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Nuffield Health is the UK’s leading health charity aimed at helping people become healthy and stay healthy. It combines Cannon’s gyms, Nuffield Hospitals and Nuffield Proactive Health into a single healthcare service through a network of over 200 facilities across the UK

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It is independent of government and has no shareholders, so it is free to reinvest any profit/savings for customers’ benefit. It combines the best disciplines of business with the social values of charity.

Customers are at the centre of everything Nuffield Health (“NH”) does. What differentiates Nuffield is its values of being warm and empathetic towards its customers whilst providing services that are personal and tailored to each individual’s needs and feelings. Its Suppliers, Procurement and IT function must support and enhance this ethos.

Work Done

Gyms – Client Management (Membership) System

NH had run a tender and appointed a supplier for its Membership System. Obviously the system is business critical not only enabling and monitoring entry to each gym but capturing all the gym’s membership data. The chosen supplier was a Dutch software house who would provide the application via Software as a Service (Cloud Computing.)

NH requested that JMCL advise and draft the contract addressing not only cost and service issues but all the business critical risks associated with this contract. In particular to address the specific issues raised by the application being provided as Cloud Computing.

Nuffield Health (“NH”) Contract with Major Hospital Equipment Supplier

NH had suffered as a result of poor implementation by the supplier of a major piece of medical equipment costing many hundreds of thousands of pounds. In addition the support and professional services alongside the purchase were in NH’s view unsatisfactory. The programme Manager requested that JMCL reviewed the contractual documentation and advise on a course of action.

Results Achieved

Gyms – Membership System

We liaised and negotiated with the supplier to turn their winning tender into a contract which addressed five critical areas:

1. The price and price change mechanisms including favourable terms for changes to the number of users and support & maintenance
2. Service levels (SLAs) for provision of the service including support & maintenance
3. Risk management including appropriate escrow deposits (now and for upgrades) and pre-deposit testing
4. Exclusivity so that Nuffield would have a competitive advantage
5. The specific service and contractual issues associated with provision of software via the Cloud.

Nuffield Health (“NH”) Contract with Major Hospital Equipment Supplier

JMCL provided an analysis of all documentation and advice on how to achieve Nuffield’s objectives. Our advice concentrated on a practical approach to resolving the issues since NH wished to retain the equipment and the supplier was prepared to correct previous errors. Our advice also looked beyond the existing problems and provided a framework for managing the contract and the supplier in future.

Testimonial

The project sponsor was Jon Wood, Group IT Director who commented:

“I had worked with JMCL before and knew what they were capable of. For both pieces of work JMCL again delivered outstanding results. Their advice was clear, wise and practical. Following their advice meant that the outcomes we achieved exceeded our expectations in terms of both commercial consideration and relationships with business critical vendors.”