If NHS is so desperate for money, why is it happy to spend £850 on a £23 roller blind?
GREEDY NHS contractors tried to charge a hospital more than £850 for a roller blind – only for a canny matron to buy one that did exactly the same job for less than £23 from Homebase.
The extraordinary attempt to overcharge the financially beleaguered Health Service was exposed by a horrified senior consultant. MPs last night warned widespread profligacy was burning up cash which should be spent on patient care and accused NHS managers of failing to crack down on ‘profiteering’ suppliers.
The telling example of overcharging comes amid a deepening NHS crisis that trust bosses are blaming on a cash shortfall forecast to rocket to £20billion by 2020. Last week 20 hospitals warned that patient safety could not be guaranteed because of overcrowding.
The bill of £855.80 to source and fit a ward blackout blind was submitted to the Royal Berkshire Hospital in Reading, senior respiratory consultant Dr Chris Davies revealed on his Facebook page.
In a discussion about ‘inadequate funding’ for the NHS he wrote: ‘Here’s an example of how the money is used. We need a blackout blind for a window in a procedures room on our wards.
‘Quote from the official contractor is £855.80!!! It must be gold-plated to keep out all the light.’
Dr Davies went on: ‘The matron just bought one for £22.95 from Homebase and is getting estates [management] to fix it for free. Maybe it’s not just about poor funding. Just saying…’
Although posted on a publicly available page, his comments were made in a private capacity and aimed at friends and family.
A Royal Berkshire spokesman said: ‘Dr Davies was posting in a private capacity. At this time Royal Berkshire Hospital NHS Foundation Trust cannot confirm details of his claims.’
Last night Tory MP Sir Simon Burns, who oversaw a major drive to cut NHS procurement costs under the Coalition Government, said of the contractors’ bill: ‘This beggars belief. At a time when the NHS could be investing its money in patient care, it’s disgraceful to be wasting this sort of money when cheaper products are available on the high street.
‘There’s no point in screaming about funding, if such extravagance is going on under your nose.’
Norman Lamb, the Liberal Democrat Health spokesman, said ‘profiteering’ suppliers were taking the NHS for a ride.
He said: ‘Once an organisation becomes the official contractor then it’s a danger that it becomes almost like a licence to print money.
‘The mindset has to be that NHS cash is a precious resource – and any money that is being wasted is money not spent on front-line patient care.
‘A lot of money could be saved by an assault on profligacy.’
However, he cautioned: ‘That’s not
to say that the system does not need more resources – I’m sure that it is close to breaking point. But this sort of profligacy is very dangerous, because it undermines the case for more money going into the NHS.’
The revelation comes as the NHS struggles in the midst of its worst winter crisis in 15 years. On Friday official figures revealed that only 86.2 per cent of A&E patients were seen within four hours – the lowest figure on record.
It means almost three times as many people are being forced to wait over the Government target of four hours for emergency treatment. Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt admitted that care in some hospitals was ‘completely unacceptable’, adding: ‘No one would want it for members of their own family.’
But he also said that an extra £4billion had been pumped into the NHS this year ‘which is more than the entire cost of the fire service’.