Buying Continence Products in Bulk: A Checklist for Group Homes and Aged Care

If you are responsible for continence supply at a group home, a SIL property or a residential aged care facility, the decision is not really about which brief is best. It is about which arrangement holds up over a year, across a rotating staff roster, without anyone running out on a Sunday.

Here is what to check before you commit. It is written to be used as a checklist, including against us.

Cost

1. Get every quote down to cost per brief, delivered. Pack prices, carton prices and pallet prices are not comparable until you divide them by the number of briefs and add freight. Do this before you look at anything else, because it reorders the shortlist more often than not.

2. Ask how freight is charged. Per order, per carton, or by cubic weight. Continence products are bulky and light, which means they price on cubic volume rather than actual weight. A supplier who quotes a keen unit price and then charges cubic freight per carton can end up dearer than one who does not. Ask for a delivered price to your actual postcode, not a headline rate.

3. Check the bulk price is genuinely a bulk price. More suppliers than you would expect list a carton at a price that works out the same as, or higher than, buying the equivalent number of single packs. Do the division. If there is no saving, ask why, and ask what volume earns one.

4. Ask what happens if usage changes. Resident turnover changes size mix quickly. A supplier who will let you adjust the size split between orders is worth more than a slightly cheaper one who will not.

Supply reliability

5. Ask where the stock physically is. Stock held in Australia and stock on a ship are different propositions. A supplier importing to order is exposed to shipping delays that become your problem when a resident runs out.

6. Ask for the dispatch commitment in writing. Not "fast dispatch". A stated number of business days, and what happens when they miss it.

7. Ask about continuity of the specific product. Facilities get caught when a supplier changes manufacturer mid-arrangement and the product that suited residents becomes a product that does not. Ask whether the specification is locked for the term.

8. Ask about shelf life and rotation. Absorbent cores degrade over time. Find out the shelf life, check the dates on delivery, and do not accept a volume you cannot get through comfortably within it.

Product and substantiation

9. Ask for the absorbency test data, not the number. Any supplier can print a millilitre figure on a box. Ask for the test data behind it and the method used. ISO 11948-1, sometimes called the Rothwell method, is the standard for this category. A supplier who can produce it is telling you something. A supplier who cannot is also telling you something.

10. Treat unsubstantiated claims as a warning sign. If a supplier's material says "NDIS approved", be careful with everything else it says, because the NDIS does not approve products and never has. The same goes for "hospital grade", which has no defined meaning, and for "TGA approved" on a product that requires no ARTG listing. Ask for substantiation for any claim that matters to your decision, and take it out of the comparison if none is available.

11. Get a sample carton before you sign anything. Have the staff who actually do the changes fit them. Fitting differences that do not show on a spec sheet show up immediately on the floor, and staff who were not consulted will find reasons not to use a product.

The commercial basics

12. Confirm the legal entity, the ABN and who invoices. Check the ABN on the Australian Business Register. Confirm the entity on the quote is the entity on the invoice. This sounds like paperwork and it is the thing that causes problems at audit.

Also confirm payment terms, whether the supplier holds current product liability insurance, and the returns position on unopened stock.

The two questions that tell you most

Ask a supplier what their product is not good for. A supplier who says "everything" either does not know their product or is not going to be straight with you when something goes wrong.

Then ask who you call at 4pm on a Friday when a delivery has not arrived. If the answer is a general enquiries inbox, you have your answer about how the arrangement will run.

Supplying from Equipit

Equipit Disability Supply Provider Pty Ltd, ABN 67 679 164 482, is the product-supply arm of Kinship Uniting Services, an NDIS registered and CHSP approved provider since 2017. Kinship has been working inside Australian disability and aged care for eight years, which means the people supplying you have also run the shifts.

What we supply:

• Unisex tab-style continence briefs in Medium, Large and Extra Large
• Ten briefs per pack, ten packs per bulk unit of 100
• 3D standing leak guards, 360 degree stretch waistband, refastenable tabs, colour-change wetness indicator, fragrance-free, breathable cotton-feel backsheet
• High absorbency, suitable for extended and overnight wear
• Stock held in Australia, dispatched from Western Sydney
• Adjustable size mix between orders

On our own checklist above: absorbency figures we quote are manufacturer-stated, and we are working through the supporting test documentation with the manufacturer. We would rather tell you that than print a number and hope you do not ask. We make no NDIS approval claim, because no such thing exists.

Equipit itself is not separately registered with the NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission, so we supply self-managed and plan-managed participants, facilities, group homes and private buyers directly.

For a delivered quote to your postcode, a sample carton, or a copy of our supplier snapshot and product datasheet, email products@equipitdsp.com or call Aishah on 0448 663 293. Tell us your resident numbers and your size split and we will quote on the actual volume rather than send a price list.

General information for procurement use. Specifications and pricing confirmed in writing at the time of quote.