Businesses to get top tips on how to sell products to the NHS

The event on Tuesday 27^th November at An Lòchran, Inverness is part of the new NHS Market Ready Programme which is designed and developed by Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE) to support small companies in their journey to engage with the NHS and get through to key decision makers.

It forms part of the Northern Innovation Hub which is being led by HIE on behalf of the Inverness and Highland City-Region Deal partnership.

The Hub is a set of carefully targeted projects to strengthen innovation and increase competitiveness among businesses across The Highland Council region.

It was awarded £11m by the Inverness and Highland City-Region Deal, along with £3m from the European Regional Development Fund and £2m from HIE.

Companies attending will hear how they can develop their products and services with and sell them to the NHS. The panel of experts include Neil Stewart, head of procurement and logistics, NHS Highlands; Frances Hines, R&DI manager, NHS Highlands; Gary I Campbell, former managing director of Environmental Hygiene Products and Steven McLaughlin, head of procurement, NHS National Services Scotland.

They will get an overview of the health and care market in Scotland and the UK and discover some of the commercial opportunities for local businesses.

The event also gives businesses the chance to find out more about further one-to-one tailored support that they can access over a period of eight weeks through the NHS Market Ready Programme. Remote coaching support will be given between January and May 2019 to participating businesses.

James Cameron, head of Life Sciences at HIE, said: “We are delighted to host this event  to launch the NHS Market Ready Programme and support companies on their journey to successful partnership with the NHS. We want to see more of our innovative businesses develop effective business models and approaches, enabling them to sell their products and services to the health sector.”

The NHS Market Ready Programme is free of charge to SMEs operating in the Highland Council area.

The programme will be delivered by Proactis, public sector tendering experts who provide specialist training for suppliers and a range of e-procurement solutions.