Annual State of the NHSScotland Assets and Facilities Report for 2012

Annex F

Transport and Fleet Review

At present there are up to 28 individually managed fleets within NHSScotland and it is estimated that collectively, these fleets total approximately 11,000 vehicles. The operating costs (Revenue) of the combined fleet are circa £56 million/annum.

The NHSScotland fleet of vehicles has been funded from both capital and revenue budgets, depending upon the funds available. There are no standard commercial technical specifications for commonly used vehicles, each Board specifying and procuring vehicles and their maintenance to their own specification.

All NHS Boards and some of the Special NHS Boards have their own fleet management operations and there is little evidence of collaborative working at present, other than the use of some central procurement contracts, which include leasing, fuel cards and insurance. All but the Scottish Ambulance Service outsource their maintenance, some NHS Boards include it as part of their Contract Hire arrangements, some subcontract to Scottish Ambulance Service and other Government workshops, and others have separate arrangements with commercial garages.

In order to identify the potential synergies to be gained from greater collaboration of fleet management within NHSScotland, both structural and functional, a scoping study is being carried out at a national level. This study will focus at a strategic level and will map the business processes inside each NHS Board's fleet and transport operations. All gathered data will be evaluated and analysed, and option appraisals will be generated, which will identify the opportunities and benefits that may exist through the reduction of variation and greater collaboration between NHS Boards and where appropriate with other public sector bodies. The overall aim will be maximum efficiency without compromising operational effectiveness and where possible improve the quality of service to patients.

One of the key recommendations from the report will be around the strategic procurement of the NHSScotland fleet of vehicles, agreed national specifications for the various classes of vehicles and a structured approach to the market which will deliver the maximum benefit from the market by the use of coordinated national procurement processes. This would consider the option of capital purchase against the cost of leasing.