A new NHS procurement strategy has been announced by health minister Dr Dan Poulter, with the aim of cutting wasteful spending and allowing finances to be put back into the front line for patient care.
The blueprint details plans to save £1.5 billion by getting the NHS to use its money more smartly and more efficiently. The strategy Better Procurement, Better Value, Better Care: A Procurement Development Programme for the NHS takes an open and frank look at the procurement inefficiencies that currently exist. Findings have shown that there is little consistency in the way the NHS spends money, and that very few senior employees know what good procurement looks like. Findings also identified an over-reliance on ‘framework agreements’ at the expense of the NHS striking radical money-saving deals, like hospitals getting together to bulk-buy equipment for a discount. A number of specific actions have been set out to tackle these problems:
• The recruitment of a new NHS procurement champion with private sector expertise who will have the authority to drive better procurement practices across the whole of the NHS; recruitment will start immediately.
• Dr Dan Poulter to lead a special top-level team, drawn from Government, the NHS and business to work with the new procurement champion to provide on-going scrutiny and guidance to the NHS in driving improvements in NHS procurement and productivity gains.
• Mandating hospitals to publish for the first time what they pay for goods and services and setting up a brand new ‘price index’ especially for hospitals, through which they will be able to see how much they are spending on different products compared to other hospitals. This will drive improvements because for the first time ever, hospitals will have to publish what they pay for supplies and services, and be held accountable to patients and the public for what they spend. Hospitals and their boards will be able to see where they are lagging behind and could do better.
• Cutting the temporary staff bill by 25% by the end of 2016 (temporary staffing currently costs the NHS £2.4 bn every year), by helping the NHS learn from the best hospitals and use more efficient staffing arrangements.
• A plan for the Department of Health to make the most of the market by working with top NHS suppliers directly to strike new, bulk deals for cutting-edge medical equipment like radiotherapy machines and MRI scanners.
• Growing the UK economy by making the NHS more agile and better at working with small and medium-sized businesses; including implementing Lord Young’s recommendations on pre-qualification questionnaires, including simplifying them across the NHS, or even abolishing them for low value procurements.
• Exposing poor value for money and bad contracts by making more data about the deals the local NHS is signing publicly available.
• Improving support to help senior NHS staff better understand procurement.
