A resilient healthcare system depends on strong partnerships and collaborative working. Across the NHS, collaboration with suppliers plays a vital role in ensuring continuity of services, innovation, and high-quality patient care.
Many NHS suppliers are small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), providing critical services that support frontline delivery. For these organisations, predictable cash flow is critical to maintaining staffing, investing in innovation, and sustaining operations in an already challenging economic climate.
The UK Government’s prompt payment policy recognises this challenge, setting clear expectations to support fair and timely payment practices across the public sector. Consistent adherence to these standards helps strengthen supply chain resilience and ensures that trusted partners can continue delivering value to the NHS.
Equally, suppliers play a critical role in enabling timely payment by ensuring invoices are accurate, complete and submitted in line with the trust’s agreed processes. Where invoices meet these requirements first time, trusts are better placed to process them efficiently and without avoidable delay.
At a time when financial pressures are significant across the system, a partnership approach is essential. Maintaining open communication, adherence to agreed processes and a shared focus on “right first time” invoicing helps to make a meaningful difference.
Accurate invoicing and prompt payment is not simply a compliance requirement — it is an important part of building sustainable, collaborative relationships that ultimately support best patient outcomes.
Each of the NHS Workforce Alliance frameworks have clearly laid out terms in relation to price and payment to support both trusts and suppliers. These can be found within the relevant framework Call-Off terms and conditions.
By working collaboratively within the Alliance framework terms and conditions, and in line with government policy, both NHS trusts and suppliers can realise the mutual benefits of efficient payment practices.
Please reach out to your NHS Workforce Alliance contact if you have any queries or challenges on the payment or accuracy of invoices or use the contact form on our website.
