End of an Era: Christine Hall retires after 23 years of leadership at NEP.
Fond Farewell
31st December 2024 will mark the end of an era for NEP when our Managing Director, Christine Hall, retires from the NHS. Following over 30 years of NHS service and an impressive 23 years of dedicated service to NEP, Christine has made the decision to begin a new chapter in her life and commence her well-earned retirement.
Throughout her time with NEP, Christine has been instrumental in guiding the consortium and contributing to its ongoing success. Her leadership has helped build a strong, resilient, and innovative team, and her vision has ensured that NEP remains a uniquely collaborative and forward thinking, successful organisation. We truly do wish Christine all the best in her retirement and hope she manages to fulfil her plans to travel.
Time to Reflect
Whilst Christine’s retirement marks the end of an era, it also serves as an opportunity to reflect on her remarkable contributions over the years, to both NEP and the wider NHS as a whole and how she has led NEP to become what it is today.
NEP was established in 2001 by a group of forward-thinking NHS Organisations that wanted to retain control of organisational financial processes and manage the escalating costs associated with third-party system and service providers. Hosted by Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust, NEP is a fully NHS owned organisation that maintains a not-for-profit status, and from the very beginning we have been dedicated to supporting our NHS colleagues to deliver outstanding patient care through providing innovative, market leading and cost-effective solutions.
Historically, NEP utilised the on-premise Oracle eBusiness Suite, utilising releases 11 and 12, which grew with us as we expanded the consortium throughout the country. However, over time the solutions became so extensively customised that we were unable to take advantage of the latest Oracle upgrades, leaving us standing still in the era of technological change.
Our transition to the Oracle Cloud ERP platform in 2018 freed us from these limitations, allowing us to benefit from cutting-edge advancements and innovations. Now the largest consortium in the English NHS, NEP overcame the initial challenges with the primary implementation of the NEP Cloud branded solution and has been successfully utilising this solution for 6 years. Drawing from our first-hand experience, we have developed our own bespoke implementation software to streamline data collection and migration, minimising disruption to our new consortium members and supporting a better on boarding experience.
Since the implementation of the NEP Cloud solution, Christine has also been instrumental in shaping the Oracle product to meet the needs of the NHS. Through her tenacity and future vision, we have been able to forge a strong and resilient relationship with Oracle, working together to shape the development of the solution to better fit the NHS future requirements.
More recently, we have undertaken several highly successful implementations, three of which were for some of the largest teaching hospitals in the UK and one of which was undertaken within just three months.
Harnessing the full power of cloud technology, NEP is ideally positioned to focus on further developing solutions and services that enhance our offering, empowering our consortium members to concentrate on improving internal efficiencies and delivering value-added services.
We are Stronger Together
Following Wes Streeting’s appointment as Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, we have all become familiar with the tagline ‘We are in this together’ as we approach what is being described as ‘the biggest reimagining of the NHS in our lifetimes.’ At NEP the fundamental ethos of the consortium is to work together and collaborate, and we believe that this is instrumental to the success of reforming public services, which will support the streamlining of processes, improve efficiencies, and modernise the NHS – but no single organisation can achieve this in isolation.
Autonomy demands access to the right information at the right time, wherever and whenever it is needed. To succeed, we must take responsibility for our performance, reducing reliance on centralised control to restore autonomy and accountability. Equally, we need to leverage the knowledge and expertise of our own NHS colleagues, learning from organisations that really do know what best practice looks like. This collaborative approach saves time and resources, without reinventing the wheel and wasting further valuable resources.
At NEP, we have embraced and championed this ethos from the very beginning. As a consortium, we are ‘Stronger Together.’ By working as a collaborative network, we can take advantage of the collective skills and expertise of all NHS organisations within our consortium. This collaboration not only supports the development of internal processes but also broadens our understanding of how those processes impact the wider system. By fostering partnerships with our NHS colleagues, we can make meaningful strides in laying the foundations for transformative change across the NHS.
Hear from our consortium members
“With the continual development and capabilities of NEP Cloud in terms of Purchase to Pay automation within NEP Cloud, we had an 11% increase in volumes of invoices from the previous year. With the digitalisation of transactions, integration with Procurement and scanning we have seen no increase in resource, which would previously be an estimated 1.5 WTE (estimated at £100K) for this element alone. That clearly proves a tangible saving and real value of the investment the NEP Consortium has made.”
University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
“The consortium is a good means to share best practises and experiences to drive consistent change with participating member trusts. The networking aspect of being part of the consortium has also been a benefit which perhaps has been overlooked in the past whilst trust work in silos with very little contact with other NHS bodies, being part of NEP has enabled better communication with colleagues with the same challenges and the ability to exchange ideas to overcome them.”
King’s College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust
Integration is Key
NEP is proud to offer the only cloud based, fully integrated ERP solution within the English NHS.
By consolidating multiple systems into one seamless platform, we have given our consortium members greater control of their processes, supporting them to eliminate the inefficiencies, increased costs and risks associated with disparate systems, whilst enhancing productivity and enabling effortless integration with financial processes.
By reducing fragmentation of solutions, we are empowering our members with real-time reporting capabilities, providing greater oversight, improved decision-making, and stronger control over their organisational expenditure.
The System is just the Beginning
We are confident that the NEP Cloud system is the best available option for the NHS today, but that is only the core offering.
Our Client Relationship Management team is dedicated to supporting our consortium members with seamless day-to-day system utilisation. By fostering strong engagement and delivering exceptional customer service, we aim to enhance the consortium’s overall effectiveness.
Our approach to the provision of customer service is centred on clear, achievable KPIs, ensuring we provide efficient support so that your local processes run smoothly without unnecessary delays. Simply put, we strive to work better so you can too.
The NEP team continues to work in collaboration with our valued partners to further enhance our offering, to form a fully rounded solution, providing added benefit and value to our consortium members.
Some more recent developments are;
Atamis Integration – We all need to do more with fewer resources, initiatives centred on automation and standardisation enable procurement teams to redirect their efforts towards broader, high-impact projects. This shift empowers our members to deliver greater value and enhance support for front-line care services.
The Atamis contract management application is now well established by NHS England as a tool for NHS organisations and has become widely deployed across the UK.
NEP is the first NHS consortium to integrate with the platform – maintaining and building on our position as the only true cloud Finance and Procurement ERP solution in the NHS.
NEP Reach Reporting – Working with our consortium members we have developed NEP Reach Reporting. This unique reporting tool facilitates informed decision making in real-time – reducing costs and driving efficiencies. Utilising the advanced dashboard capabilities we have developed a range of easy-to-use Budget Holder, Director of Finance and Procurement based dashboards, which support our members to have greater control of budgets and improve performance with increased accountability. NEP Reach Reporting provides real time financial and procurement reporting for individual organisations or groups of organisations, ideally positioned to meet the requirements of an ICB/ICS.
Looking Ahead
As we prepare to bid farewell to Christine Hall and reflect on her remarkable legacy, NEP stands proud of the achievements made under her leadership. Her vision and dedication have transformed NEP into a forward-thinking, collaborative consortium that is uniquely positioned to meet the challenges of a modern NHS.
Yet, as we close this chapter, a new one begins. The NHS faces a critical period of transformation—one that demands bold solutions, unwavering collaboration, and innovative thinking. NEP is committed to remaining at the forefront of this change, driving progress, and supporting our consortium members with cutting-edge technology and expert guidance.
Through the NEP Cloud solution, ground-breaking innovations like Atamis Integration and NEP Reach Reporting, and our firm belief in the power of collaboration, we continue to empower NHS organisations to achieve more with fewer resources.
Together, we are not just streamlining processes or improving efficiencies; we are laying the foundations for a sustainable, modernised NHS that can meet the demands of tomorrow.
As we look to the future, the spirit of NEP remains unchanged. By working together, learning from one another, and embracing innovation, we will continue to evolve and support the NHS in delivering world-class patient care.
After all, as Christine Hall so often reminded us: We are Stronger Together.
Hear from our consortium members
“Being both a client of NEP and a Board member, it is encouraging to see how much importance is placed on procurement within NEP Cloud. The collaboration is its strength, and we see developments, integration, and enhancements in line with the national procurement initiatives. Having recently played a part in the consulting on the development of its new Reach Reporting Procurement Dashboard, it enables a real-time visual status of operations, activity, and key performance indicators, both from a Trust perspective and supports that of a collaborative across the WYAAT group. There are clear and real benefits from having an integrated finance and procurement solution like NEP that supports procurement, and yet compliments other central systems which are also key to a successful procurement service in the NHS today.”
Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust
Would you recommend NEP to another Organisation, if so, why?
“Yes, working with NEP allows members to share knowledge and learn from other members experiences providing valuable additional resource. Our experience has been that NEP themselves are always ready to do all they can to help.”
The Newcastle Upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundations Trust
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