Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust has awarded CEVA Logistics a five year contract to manage warehousing and deliveries for the largest hospital inventory system in Europe. As part of the project, the two parties have created a new, multi-purpose delivery center which will enable them to operate under a unique urban consolidation model which dramatically reduces the number of deliveries each day to the hospitals.

At the core of the new partnership, CEVA’s consolidated and centralized storage operations allow for a significant reduction of 90% per day in the overall number of deliveries to the three major central London hospitals – Guy’s Hospital, St Thomas' Hospital and Evelina London Children’s Hospital.

All shipments inbound to Dartford will be tracked on arrival and at each key point in the process through to final handover.  Combined with the supplier booking, this will provide the customer with total visibility across the supply chain.

The new service model will additionally reduce the volume of waste collection within the hospital trust and speed up the put-away of products into clinical areas.

Eddie Aston, CEVA's Managing Director UK, Ireland and Nordics, says: "CEVA is very pleased that its proven and extensive experience of providing urban consolidation services, its strong track record within the healthcare sector and its innovative solutions have been recognized by Guy's & St Thomas' with the awarding of this contract," 

"This is a ground-breaking partnership which we hope will be the catalyst for similar collaborations with other NHS Trusts," he adds.

Within CEVA’s new Dartford facility, Guy’s and St Thomas' will create an innovation center where work on future initiatives can be developed. The team is also evaluating gas-powered and electric options for the trucks used to further reduce the carbon impact of deliveries to the hospitals.

David Lawson, chief procurement officer at Guy's and St Thomas', says: “This new supply chain hub will reduce the number of deliveries to our hospitals by 90 per cent, which will remove over 36,000 truck deliveries each year. This is part of our ambitious strategy to reduce our carbon footprint and improve our sustainability while ensuring critical deliveries are made every day across our central London hospitals, and we are very pleased to count on CEVA Logistics’ expertise and drive for innovation.”