THE NHS AND THE NPSA APPOINT PROLOG TO HANDLE CAMPAIGN DISTRIBUTION

The National Patient Safety Agency is using Prologs nationwide bulk storage, fulfilment and distribution infrastructure to bring a 17-month long MRSA awareness programme to hospital wards throughout England and Wales.

Launched in December, the campaign aims, through the dissemination of posters, leaflets, stickers and badges, to constantly remind hospital staff and patients about the importance of thorough and regular hand cleaning in the fight against the spread of the deadly hospital superbug.

We have been contracted to provide the collation and next-day deliveries of up to 2000 bulky multi-element starter packs per month, commented Jackie James, Operations Manager at Prologs Midlands distribution depot near Nottingham.

The packs are being despatched in five phases over a five-month period ending in May this year, and a concurrent monthly fulfilment by Prolog of additional top-up posters designed to consolidate on the campaigns message will extend through to May 2006.

This is very much a JIT operation, involving the receipt of data onto the Prolog Mailbrain system and the generation of bar coded labels for next-day transport and delivery to six strategic staging points across England. From there the packs are taken up by NHS Logistics for onward timed distribution to all participants.

With around 120 individual NHS Trusts currently signed up, the MRSA awareness message will be finding its way to well over 6000 individual ward destinations.

Prolog has been providing outsourced services support for the Department of Health since 1999. However, the NPSAs Cleanyourhands campaign is the first time that Prolog Transport has been deployed directly in support of NHS Logistics.

With up to 40 deliveries scheduled for each five-day window of each of the five campaign segments, this represents a substantial business gain for the recently autonomous Prologs Logistics Division.

Julie Storr, head of Safer Practice with the NPSA, praised Prologs support for this crucial health initiative: The NPSA and NHS Logistics are working with Prolog. With four operational sites over the UK, Prolog's marketing services and support infrastructure is among the largest and most modern anywhere in the UK and Europe.

At the outset of the campaign it was acknowledged that getting campaign materials to individual wards was a critical success factor. Without the partnership working between NHSL and Prolog this would not have been feasible.