NHS UK exposed for poor procurement

A recent report has slammed the National Health Service (UK) for poor procurement which has led to budget waste and problems for the peak health body.

Up to 12 percent of the NHS purchasing budget is wasted according to a joint venture between the UK’s health service and IT services supplier Steria.

In a radical overhaul, the UK government plans to devolve much of the NHS spending power to GP practices or GP consortia.

Health secretary Andrew Lansley said the government’s reforms were designed to create “a more responsive, patient-centred NHS, which achieves outcomes that are among the best in the world”.

However, Ian Shepherd, chief executive of NHS resources collaborative procurement hub in the East Midlands, said he feared there is currently no over-arching strategy to manage the changes being implemented.

“If you don’t have the right people, processes and tools in you will leak cash until you put something in place to plug all those leaks,” he said. NHS resources collaborative procurement hub in the East Midlands is due to be wound up.

The report claims that health service managers were squandering more than AUD$1.5 billion a year by paying inflated prices for supplies. Additionally, the data shows that eight NHS trusts are routinely paying 19 different sums for the same pacemaker, wasting up to AUD$1, 000 a time. 

Read more here.