pproach, waiting for suppliers to be ready.
Blood bottles differ from the other “cases” as many (not all) of the deliveries go
through NHS Logistics. Trusts order with NHS Logistics and the latter receive the
products from the suppliers. NHS Logistics provided NHS trusts with hand held
scanning devices for automated ordering as part of their service to improve stock
control. Stock is an issue as clinicians decide what to use at the point of treatment, and
blood bottles vary in size and use, so a variety of products from different suppliers
need to be stocked. This is further affected through the presence of switching costs
(retraining for use of products and recalibration of testing equipment). There is no
pressure from suppliers to adopt an e-commerce technology: they value the contacts
with clinicians as a route for introducing new products into the NHS. Purchasing is
fragmented and consequently there are multiple supply routes, and no accurate usage
information. This makes it difficult to predict demand and assess benefits of
e-adoption.