It's been over a year since Gordon Brown guaranteed small businesses would be paid within 10 days for work done for the government, including the NHS. Is it happening?
We have seen changes in the last six months, payment terms are sometimes being stretched with some hospitals saying they have no money – we have reacted by enforcing a stronger credit control policy that puts customers on ‘stop’ which is working, but we would prefer not to do this as ultimately it means at times we are saying we will not supply goods that are urgently needed to treat patients. Our company mantra is that we offer a high level of service and support to all of our customers, but we are also a business with staff and overheads, which sometimes culturally leads to a clash. Fortunately, in the main this stance ensures payment and the operations go ahead.
Medilink North West of - Medilink North West - 9:37:59am Dec-20th
Five company comments from Medilink North West:
I can confirm that the NHS pay us promptly, usually within 45 days Sometimes sooner providing they do not have a query on the invoice. Then it becomes a different story as it can take two months to sort out the problem because of their internal systems and procedures.
The Voices of Industry process has given us timely market information about the 30-40 day payment terms many of our colleagues are enjoying and has spurred us to write the attached letter to those Trusts who are not honouring our contractual payment terms. We'll keep you posted on our success with it.
Today we issued the attached letter to Lord Drayson along with your comments regarding late NHS payments, we'll keep you posted on any response, but please continue to upload your thoughts and experiences.
Kevin Kiely of - Medilink Yorkshire and the Humber - 9:34:41am Dec-7th
I have heard back from 8 of our member companies regarding their experiences with late payments, and I'm pleased to report that the unanimous response has been that they are not experiencing any trouble with the NHS paying on time.
So I rang around a few companies today. Only one company said that they were continuing to experience difficulties, the others all indicated that they no longer had issues and that the position had improved significantly in the last year.
The company that continues to have a negative experience indicates their primary issue would appear to be an organization called the Shared Business Service (SBS). It would appear that if invoices go into the Topcliffe facility in Wakefield and orders are processed via the SBS that they can wait many months for payment.
Jessica Fisher of - MediWales - 9:34:41am Dec-7th
Here is a quote from one of our member companies regarding late payments:
In general we are getting prompt payment (Ave 3 weeks) from most NHS Trusts now, which is extremely welcome.
Regarding Trusts, our only gripe is that some invoices are still taking 6 to 7 weeks but this is usually where staff have moved on and no one is sure about the signing off or of a delivery being made.
More importantly however is NHS Shared Services in Wakefield, where we still have invoices as far back as May and July, where resolution can be very difficult because they can be hard to contact (email only and reference number) and take considerably longer to resolve outstanding payments. Improvement here is definitely sought.
Rachel Goodall of - Owen Mumford - 12:38:22pm Dec-4th
Our experience with NHS Supply Chain is they honour the terms and conditions of our contracts relating to payments, which are negotiated before signing.
Simon Hardman of - Minivator - 11:07:20am Dec-4th
Reviewing our top Local Authority accounts over the last six months, we are experiencing an average of 55 days between invoice date and payment receipt. I think it will always be impossible for LA's to pay within 10 days due to the time needed for OT's to revisit the installation and sign it off as being okay to pay. As you'll see, however, the time needed for this inspection and the subsequent time taken to flow through the LA to ultimate payment can be quite long
Adrian Flowerday of - Docobo - 11:02:48am Dec-4th
There is a wide range of attitudes and abilities when it comes to paying mainly due to the process by which an invoice is received and processed At Southampton for example, we are usually paid within 14 days, constantly and reliably At others, what we find is that we have to chase it all the way, to the point of feeling that we are pushing too hard. Often, we have to check that certain people have received the invoice and passed it onto the next person. Occasionally the invoice gets stuck on someone's desk whilst they are off for the summer, etc. In other cases the stores dept do not let accounts know that product is delivered. If you are a new supplier it often stalls as we have to be put on the system, and that does not seem to happen until 30 days and we start chasing
Peter Dines of - SurgiCLtd - 13:06:08pm Dec-3rd
NHS organisations appear increasingly willing to admit to serious cash shortages and an inability to pay suppliers promptly.
Some openly acknowledge their policy to only pay those from whom urgent supplies are required or who shout loudest.
Obtaining payment is therefore seemingly dependent upon robust credit control procedures yet even then some organisations manage to avoid prompt payment by hiding behind internal procedures or threatening to withdraw companies from the supply chain.
We could currently cite a selection of NHS organisations who are intentionally or knowingly failing to adhere to the Government's guidelines.
Tony Wilson of - KimalPlc - 9:35:58am Dec-3rd
We have current experience with the Finance Dept of a major London Teaching Hospital that has categorically stated its policy is to pay on 90 day terms.
Secondly, we are experiencing a total disconnect between many NHS procurement functions who use Shared Service Centres to process their payments. Payments are often delayed due to references quoted by the Procurement function on their orders being unrecognised by Shared Services and causing considerable delay to settlements. Not withstanding the basic fact that Shared Services are incredibly difficult to communicate with.
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