NSS09725 Postal Services

About the buyer

NHS National Services Scotland is a national healthcare body serving NHS Scotland, and its National Procurement arm is Scotland's largest procurement organisation. Tenders are advertised on Public Contracts Scotland under the buyer name Common Services Agency. Suppliers apply for those tenders to get onto a national framework. Each contract record on the register names the framework, its dates, the winning suppliers and the National Procurement contract owner. The National Distribution Service then delivers stock to hospital wards and community centres across NHS Scotland. Innovative products can be submitted through an online innovation portal.

UK health spending has nearly quadrupled to £241.8bn in 2024/25, £20bn up on the year before. £140.6bn of that went to procurement, the biggest sector of UK public spending and the fastest-growing.

Over the past 5 years, most of NHS National Services Scotland's contract awards have been in medical equipment and pharmaceuticals, IT services and transport equipment.