The National Audit Office report, The procurement of consumables by NHS acute and Foundation Trusts, was issued in February. The main findings of the report point to the fact that NHS hospitals often pay more than they need to when buying basic supplies.
A combination of inadequate information and fragmented purchasing means that NHS hospitals’ procurement of consumables is poor value for money. The report points out that with no central control over Foundation Trusts, the Department cannot mandate more efficient procurement practices. Responsibility to demonstrate value for money in procurement falls upon the management of individual Trusts. The price that Trusts pay for the same items varies widely. Some Trusts are not getting value for money because they are buying many different types of the same product. Commenting on the report, the Rt Hon Margaret Hodge MP, Chair of the Committee of Public Accounts, said: “A lot has been said recently about the unprecedented challenge the NHS faces in the coming years. Most strikingly, by 2015, it must find between £15 bn and £20 bn of annual savings. Today’s NAO report focuses on one very obvious area where some of these savings could come from, identifying up to £500 m of inefficient spending which could be reduced without any impact on frontline services. “It is unacceptable that so many hospital Trusts are currently paying more than they need for basic supplies. Too much purchasing is still done through multiple, low-value orders, which incur high administration costs. The range of similar products that Trusts buy is sometimes so wide as to appear ridiculous: how can it be, for instance, that while one Trust does its work with just 13 different types of surgical glove, another requires 177? These are well-known recipes for poor value for money that really ought to have been addressed by now.”
