How we’re using data to help NHS trusts make smarter decisions
Making critical decisions about workforce planning or supplier contracts without a clear picture of where money is being spent would be incredibly difficult. That’s where our data and analytics team comes in.
We collaborate with NHS trusts, clusters, and suppliers to turn complex, often messy data into clear, meaningful insight. We combine data from multiple sources, including our NHS Workforce Alliance partners, NHS trust-provided purchase order (PO) and accounts payable (AP) records, the Spend Comparison Service (SCS), Tussell, and Oxygen Insight to create a reliable source of truth that supports confident decision-making.
A key part of this work is led by specialists like Madelaine Lauw, Data Specialist for our HR & People and Healthcare Services & Pharmacy category teams. Madelaine collects, collates, analyses and compares data from a wide range of sources to uncover trends, identify opportunities, and support strategic conversations around workforce and supplier spend.
“Our aim is to give trusts data they can trust so they can clearly see where money is being spent, understand variations, and make informed decisions based on accurate benchmarking.” Madeleine Lauw, Data Specialist
Her role focuses on turning complex workforce and supplier data into clear, actionable insights, helping procurement teams to recognise trends, understand variations in spend, and identify opportunities to improve value and efficiency.
Our interactive dashboards are tailored to the needs of individual trusts, clusters, and suppliers. Whether the focus is contractual spend, workforce trends, rate benchmarking, or identifying opportunities to better align spend with existing framework agreements, our insights are designed to support both operational oversight and longer-term planning.
We highlight spikes and anomalies by benchmarking spend against agreed price caps, then work directly with trusts to query and validate the data. We also monitor misreported or underreported spend and follow up where needed to maintain data quality.
By combining specialist expertise with accurate data and meaningful benchmarking, our service helps NHS procurement professionals make informed, evidence-based decisions and strengthens workforce and supplier management.
If you’d like to learn more about workforce spend insights or our bespoke interactive dashboards, please visit the NHS Workforce Alliance Data and Insights page. You can also contact our Support Desk at enquiries@noecpc.nhs.uk for further information.