GUEST SPEAKER - TERRY HOY

Chairman Rotarian Ian Cairns introduced guest speaker Terry Hoy, Supply Services Manager from South West Health Care. Terry began in a junior position at Warrnambool Base Hospital after leaving school, and now leads the region’s hospital purchasing operations.

South West Health Care employs some 1,250 people and has a budget of $130 million. There are 271 beds, including 192 acute beds at Warrnambool and another 21 at Camperdown. There are 20 mental health beds and 38 aged care beds. In 2012/13 26,786 patients were seen by the Emergency Department, and 16,350 people were treated as in-patients. Warrnambool saw 750 births, with another 47 at Camperdown.

Terry’s Supply department employs 11 staff and spends around $5.5 million each year. Major responsibilities include medical/surgical purchasing, purchase of major items of equipment, managing a fleet of 120 vehicles and lots and lots of mobile phones and other communications devices.

His work has become high tech in nature, and uses sophisticated purchasing systems that delegate authority down and up the chain of command. Products are evaluated and tenders managed.

Health Purchasing Victoria enables state-wide co-ordination and obtains best prices. Regional warehousing has resulted in substantial costs savings. Terry was funded by HPV to study hospital purchasing in the UK and USA, and was amazed at the scale of purchasing in some of the larger hospitals overseas.

A lively discussion followed Terry’s presentation, focusing on ethical standards in purchasing and the dangers of driving costs so low that competition is eliminated, possibly leaving single suppliers of key items then able to charge higher prices.

Rotarian Ian Cairns shared his own experiences of dealing with Terry’s department, which he always found to be very rigorous and highly ethical in nature. He thanked Terry for an excellent presentation.