Much of the research in the UK on logistics and distribution management has focused upon the manufacturing sector, in particular the automobile industry, and the retail sector, notably the grocery sector. The purpose of this paper is to report on the status of research currently being carried out by the authors into supply chain management in a public sector organization, the National Health Service (NHS). The main focus of the research is to evaluate the performance of the Supplies Services from the perspective of three main groups: the NHS Supplies Managers ‐ the providers of the service, Trust Hospital Chief Executives ‐ the purchasers of the service and companies supplying goods to the NHS.