Caliba helps hospital with $400 million spending review and roll-out

A team of consultants from Caliba worked on a National Hospitals project in support of a long-term savings initiative. The review covered over $400 million in annual spending across 5 hospitals.

Brisbane-based Caliba Group, which has over a decade of experience, specialises in optimising procurement for organisations in the heavy industry and healthcare sectors with the goal of lowering operating costs and streamlining value chains.

Working with public hospitals operating in three states, Caliba’s consultants collaborated with hospital executives, business managers, procurement teams, and engineering teams as well as external suppliers to review annual spending portfolio of over $400 million per annum.

The review spanned non-clinical spend in the often unseen elements of the hospital, and looked at full lifecycle of spending of the purchase of goods and services to long term maintenance contracts. “From sterilisation equipment to lift maintenance, patient entertainment and nurse call, security services and even grounds maintenance, all areas were covered in this project,” said Felix Kong, who leads Caliba’s work in the healthcare sector.

Building on the insights from the spend analysis, Caliba then helped the hospital with identifying areas of potential savings. A 14-month project roadmap was devised, with projects prioritised based on a range of factors, including savings that could be achieved, contribution to mitigate risk, and feasibility – but also to what extent improvements could benefit (patient) services.

Caliba’s consultants stayed on board during the implementation phase, supporting the delivery of projects. “We worked with the hospital’s teams to push through cost reduction opportunities, contractual improvements and a new comprehensive asset register for maintenance contracts,” explained Felix.

As a rule of thumb, hospitals spend more on non-clinical goods and services than on clinical materials. It is not just needles, medications, anddressings – hospitals need to spend huge amounts on things like medial equipment maintenance, catering services, cleaning services, andother components of the physical space where patients are treated.

Kong said: “Hospitals are in fact enormous engineering projects, and behind the patient treatment and operating theatres are the true engine of what makes a hospital work. Through our work with multiple hospitals nationally, we know that significant savings can be unlocked in these areas.”