Toothpaste sold for £8 a tube in hospitals

THE head of the NHS has warned hospital shops to reduce their “jacked up prices” after it emerged patients were charged £8 for a tube of toothpaste.

Simon Stevens spoke out as Whsmith announced a price review of toiletries in 129 hospitals.

The newsagent was charging £7.99 for toothpaste that is sold for as little as 80p elsewhere. Nappies, mouthwash and other essentials were also being sold at huge mark-ups.

Mr Stevens, the chief executive of the NHS, yesterday urged retailers operating in hospitals to show more responsibility. “These retailers should think again about jacked-up prices that affect poorly patients, their family visitors, and hardworking hospital staff,” he told The Daily Telegraph. “Just because some of these shops may have the ability to get away with it, doesn’t mean it’s the right thing to do.”

Whsmith admitted that inflated prices in one Yorkshire hospital were part of a far wider problem, and said errors had been made regarding several items. The items include Colgate toothpaste being sold at £7.99, when it costs 80p at Tesco and £1 in Boots. The com- pany said the price should have been £2.49 – still three times more than supermarket prices. The Telegraph found Pampers nappies being sold at £6 compared with £2.50 elsewhere, Listerine mouthwash at £4.59 when it is £1.50 in supermarkets, and travel toiletries being sold for twice the high street price.

Last night WH Smith said all of these cases were the result of “a pricing error in the system” and said it would be launching an immediate review of its pricing of toiletries at 129 hospital sites across England.

Patients’ groups accused the retailer of trying to profit from a “captive market” of vulnerable people.

Rachel Power, the Patients Association chief executive, said the pricing strategy was “cynical and unfair”.

Caroline Abrahams, the Age UK charity director, said any company providing services on NHS grounds should not be “profiteering” at the expense of patients, while Joyce Robins, from Patient Concern, said: “Hospitals should not be letting them get away with it.”

Two years ago, Whsmith pledged to cut its prices in hospitals after Paula Sherriff, the Dewsbury MP, criticised it for pricing items there higher than those sold in their high street branches.

Other retailers were also found to be charging more in hospital sites than they did elsewhere, with M&S charging £4.59 for Sensodyne Gentle whitening toothpaste which they normally sell for £4, and which costs £2.50 at Tesco. Sainsburys sold Gillette Fusion shaving gel for £3, compared with £2 online.

A Whsmith spokesman said: “Despite having relatively low sales of these products we aim to set our prices as competitively as possible.

“We are ... reviewing the prices of all such items to ensure they comply with this policy.”