Essity, a leading global health and hygiene company, appointed Whitehouse Communications to make the case for a more cohesive approach to NHS procurement of continence products. Through targeted political engagement across Parliament, government and industry, Whitehouse built a coalition of supporters for value-based procurement and secured a government commitment to a paradigm shift in NHS procurement.
The challenge
Essity is a leading global health and hygiene company, supplying continence products to the NHS and engaging with the policy and procurement decisions that affect how those products are specified and used.
Essity appointed Whitehouse Communications to promote a more cohesive approach to NHS procurement of continence products. The objective was clear: move beyond the procurement orthodoxy’s narrow focus on unit cost and instead champion genuine patient-centred care, ensure purchasing decisions reflect system-wide costs, and deliver better overall value for the health service.
Our approach
Whitehouse Communications developed a tailored political engagement programme to build cross-sector support for value-based procurement in the NHS.
The work focused on:
- Engaging key decision-makers across Parliament, government and the NHS to make the case for moving beyond unit cost as the primary basis for procurement decisions.
- Building a coalition of influential supporters across Parliament, government and industry to champion value-based procurement as the alternative.
- Pressing the NHS to reassess its purchasing practices in line with the principles of patient-centred care, reduced pressure on healthcare professionals, and improved overall value to the health service.
The outcome
As a direct result of engagement at both government and parliamentary levels, Whitehouse Communications secured a commitment from the government to deliver a paradigm shift in public health procurement, through the launch of a value-based procurement methodology.
This commitment marks a major step forward in embedding value-based procurement in NHS decision-making, ensuring that purchasing decisions reflect system-wide costs and patient outcomes rather than headline prices alone.
In their words
