Poulter's new strategy for NHS procurement is supposed to cut wasteful spending so cash can be ploughed back into the front line for patient care. It details ambitious plans to save £1.5bn by getting the NHS to use its money more smartly and more efficiently.

The government's NHS reforms are already making £1.5bn of back office savings each and every year for the NHS by reducing unnecessary bureaucracy, it is claimed, but the new approach should show how the NHS can save much more, and support economic growth, by changing the way it buys supplies and does business.

Poulter said: "The Government is putting an extra £12.7bn into our NHS, but that money needs to be spent much more wisely by local hospitals. When our NHS is the single biggest organization in the UK, hospitals must wake up to the potential to make big savings and radically change the way they buy supplies, goods, services and how they manage their estates.

"We must end the scandalous situation where one hospital spends hundreds of thousands more than another hospital just down the road on something as simple as rubber gloves or syringes, simply because they haven't got the right systems in place to ensure value for money for local patients."

Read Full Article