AI project to ‘pandemic-proof’ NHS supply chain

The project team believes that the platform will help to prevent future shortages of essential products in future, such as the shortage of PPE reported by many health and social care organisations during the first wave of the Covid-19 pandemic.

With the ability to analyse NHS and global procurement data from previous supply contracts, the platform will aim to allow NHS buyers to evaluate credibility and capability of suppliers to fulfil their order. Each supplier would have a real-time ‘risk rating’ with information on the goods and services they supply.

Researchers at Sheffield University's Information School are said to be developing Natural Language Processing (NLP) methods for the automated reading and extraction of data from large amounts of contract tender data held by the NHS and other European healthcare providers. Vamstar will work alongside them to incorporate the information into a healthcare procurement marketplace, accessible to NHS procurement teams.