Why does NHS pay £16 for 35p gloves?

THE NHS is one of the cheapest and fairest systems for delivering healthcare in the world.

However, there’s no doubt it could be more efficient — and this was illustrated perfectly this week when Jeremy Hunt, the Health Secretary, discussed how some hospitals are paying as much as £16 for a packet of gloves that cost as little as 35p.

Mr Hunt said the NHS could save up to £1 billion a year by opting for cheaper products.

The problem is that because trusts are independent from Whitehall control and are responsible for buying their own supplies, there is, as a result, considerable variation.

I once temporarily shared an office with the ‘procurement and supplies team’ of a large hospital, who were responsible for buying everything from staples to toilet rolls.

It was a team of 20, and I realised that every other hospital had similar teams all negotiating with the same manufacturers for pretty much the same products.

While the political rhetoric is that devolving all power to hospitals is best because local hospitals know their own needs, in some areas we need the NHS to act as one unit and make much more of its considerable negotiating power.

We are stronger when we all stand together and this is one of the fundamental ideas behind the NHS.

Yet this seems to have been forgotten — and it’s all of us who now have to pay the price.