Why structured care home procurement is essential
Care homes buy under a kind of pressure no other industry faces in the same way: the non-staff costs of food, cleaning, hygiene, care aids, laundry and building upkeep keep rising – while reimbursement rates are capped through care-rate negotiations. Every euro saved in purchasing directly eases residents’ own contribution (co-payment) and strengthens your position in the next negotiation with the long-term care insurance funds. Even so, purchasing in many facilities still isn’t a dedicated function: orders are placed by domestic services, administration or the head of nursing – on the side, with no rate comparison and no overall view.
Pro-Cure Solutions takes over operational and project purchasing for nursing homes, senior living residences and care operators running multiple facilities – as an outsourced purchasing department that understands residential care. Every supplier, order and approval runs through one platform. We negotiate the terms, we deliver the reporting, your team orders in a few clicks.
Whether it’s food for the home’s kitchen, continence care for 120 residents, cleaning supplies for the residential units or the fit-out for a modernisation – everything runs through pre-negotiated catalogues at large-buyer terms, passed straight on to you.
What care facilities achieve with Pro-Cure
Lower procurement costs
Through pooled buying volumes, consolidated supplier contracts and the removal of uncontrolled purchasing outside agreed terms.
From first call to going live
Supplier integration, range setup, team training and approval processes – all included in the onboarding.
Response time to requests
A dedicated contact: colleagues who know the care sector – no call centre, no waiting.
SELECTED SUPPLIERS & QUALITY PARTNERS
… and many more vetted partners you’ll know from the industry.
WHAT WE SOLVE
The three most expensive problems in care home procurement
Non-staff costs rise, reimbursement rates don’t keep up
Energy, food, cleaning, care aids – non-staff costs in residential care have risen sharply in recent years. Care-rate negotiations only offset this with a delay and incompletely. Whatever sits between the negotiated rate and reality lands directly on the facility, or is passed to residents through higher co-payments.
Purchasing without a dedicated department
Most care homes have no dedicated purchasing function. Whoever has time places the orders – the head of domestic services, administration, the head of nursing. Rate negotiations rarely happen, suppliers are hardly compared, and there’s no overall view across product categories. Strategic procurement is a luxury day-to-day operations can’t afford.
No transparency for care-rate negotiations
If you can’t document your non-staff costs cleanly and break them down by product category, you negotiate with the long-term care insurance funds from a weak position. Without solid figures, cost increases can’t be proven – and reimbursement rates lag behind reality.
From first conversation to running your facility’s procurement
We take over the entire procurement process – structured, transparent and with measurable results.
Assessment & analysis
We record your current suppliers, terms, ordering routes and non-staff cost structure – per facility, residential unit and product category. The analysis shows where the immediate savings are.
Platform setup & supplier integration
Ranges are built, suppliers connected, roles and approval limits configured. Your team is trained and orders through one system from day one.
Ongoing purchasing & rate management
Orders run through the platform, approvals happen automatically. Terms are checked against the market regularly. You see at any time what was ordered and at what price.
Reporting & optimisation
Dashboards by facility, product category or supplier. Savings are documented, anomalies flagged. Each quarter we review optimisation opportunities with you – including a non-staff cost breakdown for your care-rate negotiations.
From continence care to kitchen equipment – procurement that understands care.
12+ YEARS’ EXPERIENCE IN CARE HOME PROCUREMENT
Frequently asked questions about care home procurement with Pro-Cure
Everything you need on working together – from integrating your existing suppliers to managing several facilities.
We work with operators running several care homes, as well as larger standalone facilities. The platform is modular: you use the areas that fit your operation. From around 80 care beds, or across several facilities, our model delivers its full effect – through volume pooling, cross-site reporting and consolidated rate negotiation.
Everything consumed, maintained or replaced in the day-to-day running of a care home: food and drink for the home’s kitchen, cleaning and hygiene items, continence products and care aids, laundry and textiles, office and administrative supplies, kitchen supplies and small kitchen appliances, maintenance materials for building services. For modernisations or new builds, we also handle the complete fit-out procurement.
Yes. Existing suppliers are integrated into the platform – your established relationships stay intact. On top of that, you benefit from the terms we negotiate by pooling all client volumes. Many facilities find that the spend transparency and automated approvals alone deliver the biggest gain – before a single supplier changes.
Buying co-operatives pool member volumes and negotiate framework agreements – you join a group and order on its terms. Pro-Cure goes further: we take over the entire procurement process – supplier evaluation, rate negotiation, range management, approval workflows, invoice checking and reporting. You need no membership, no co-operative shares and no minimum term. We aren’t your buying group – we are your purchasing department.
Indirectly, but effectively. Our platform documents all non-staff costs without gaps and by product category – food, cleaning, hygiene, consumables, maintenance. That breakdown gives you solid figures for negotiating with the long-term care insurance funds. If you can prove your cost increases, you negotiate from a much stronger position.
That’s exactly what the platform is built for. Each facility can have its own ranges, budget limits and approvals, while the operator’s head office keeps the consolidated overview – from a single item in domestic services to total spend across all homes.
Specialist suppliers like igefa deliver high-quality products in their segments – hygiene, continence, cleaning. Pro-Cure isn’t a supplier – we are your purchasing management: we integrate all kinds of specialist suppliers into the platform, compare terms, manage ranges across every product category and deliver consolidated reporting. You keep your trusted suppliers – and gain the overview and the negotiating power you were missing.
Ready to lift purchasing out of day-to-day operations?
Talk to our specialists – in German, English and more. We know residential care.
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