Medicine Procurement

Strategy for Compliant Procurement of Medicines in Acute and non-Acute Hospitals

The HSE Strategy for the procurement of medicines in Acute and non-Acute hospitals is to ensure legislatively compliant, safe and cost effective procurement of medicines. The procurement of medicines is clinically led by pharmacy, in collaboration with colleagues in finance, procurement and relevant clinical areas.

In 2019 the HSE Strategy for the Procurement of Medicines in Acute and non-Acute Hospitals was first published.  The publication together with the introduction of the National Pharmaceutical Procurement Support team (NPPST) formalised the HSE Strategy to the procurement of medicines.

The NPPST provides expertise from both Procurement and Pharmacy subject matter expertise (SME).  The NPPST are available to the Pharmacists of the Acute and non-Acute hospitals to procure medicines through competitions compliant with the EU Procurement Directive 2014/24/EU and HSE National Financial Regulations (B1) Procurement.

The HSE Strategy recommends the utilisation of a Sole Source Medicines List (SSL) and a National Dynamic Purchasing System (DPS), as a preferred model to facilitate compliant procurement of medicines by HSE-funded hospitals.

How to get further information 

1. HSE Strategy for the Procurement of Medicines in Acute & non-Acute Hospitals (PDF, size 1.1 MB, 18 pages)
2. National Pharmaceutical Procurement Support Team at NPPST@hse.ie
3. Internal stakeholders - HSE Acute and non-Acute hospital personnel involved in the procurement of medicines may register for access to further information on the ‘Pharmacy Procurement Portal’ through your account on HSE Procurement Assisted Sourcing Systems (PASS) website; https://hsepass.ie/index.html  
4. External stakeholders - Sole Source Medicines List (SSL) and a National Dynamic Purchasing System (DPS) can be accessed through Office of Government Procurement e-tenders website; European Dynamics - Welcome to eTenders (etenders.gov.ie)