Red mark for NHS as it pays double for pens

NHS trusts are buying whiteboard pens at nearly double high street prices, new figures reveal. Last year trusts paid up to £2.10 for four whiteboard markers that could be bought from stationers Staples for £1.04. The NHS pays £55.6billion a year for general supplies and medical equipment.

NHS TRUSTS are buying whiteboard marker pens at nearly double high street prices, figures reveal.

Last year trusts paid up to £2.10 for four-packs of whiteboard markers that could be bought from stationers Staples for £1.04 excluding VAT. Jeremy Hunt, the Health Secretary, has previously described such discrepancies as “baffling”.

The health service spends £55.6billion a year on general supplies and

medical equipment. But figures have revealed that bulk buying is not resulting in the best deals. The £4.42 cost to NHS trusts of packs of 30 bed pads was 12 per cent higher than the cheapest identical packs on sale.

“There is no doubt that considerable variation remains in how much different parts of the NHS pay for goods and supplies,” said Siva Anandaciva, chief analyst at The King’s Fund, an independent health think tank. But he added that some variations could be explained by the way the figures were

compiled: some organisations report only the product price while others include additional costs, like delivery charges.

“However, even accepting these issues, substantial unwarranted variation remains – partly because different NHS organisations use different products for similar types of treatment, and partly because they pay different prices for the same product,” he added.

“There has been a lack of data on what different organisations are paying and a fragmented approach to using the

NHS’S collective buying power to best effect, with organisations often operating as islands rather than archipelagos.”

NHS Trusts – none of which were named in the data – also secure poor

deals on other everyday items. One trust paid £8.29 for a box of A4 paper while another was charged nearly a third more at £10.62. Many also paid double the price shoppers pay for toilet tissue, which at Lidl supermarket costs £1.99.

NHS trusts source most of goods through NHS Supply Chain, a system run by German logistics firm DHL for NHS Business Services Authority, the body which oversees much of the health service’s buying and selling activity. Some commissioners have complained

about Supply Chain’s lack of pricing transparency and that some products were more expensive in its catalogue than on the internet or high street, despite buying in bulk.

However, it is to be replaced this year by a new system, which could save the NHS £1billion.

Mr Anandaciva said: “There is some good work under way to improve efficiency and productivity, but there is lots more that could be done.” NHS Improvement said changes will help it save £810million in the next two years.