NHS could save £5 billion each year with modest reform
pharmafile | June 11, 2015 | News story | Medical Communications, Sales and Marketing | NHS, brett wells, lord carter
The chairman of the NHS procurement and efficiency board Lord Carter has said the UK health body could save billions of pounds with better use of staff, medicines, supplies and more efficient processes.
Lord Carter was working with 22 hospitals to see how the NHS could save money by doing things more efficiently, and his report finds that the NHS could save up to £5 billion every year by 2020.
Key to the recommendations is making sure every hospital pays the best price for medicines and supplies, then reinvesting any savings into frontline care. He also highlights making better use of NHS staff through modest reform.
Lord Carter says: “The NHS has some of the best hospitals in the world both in terms of quality, innovation and operational efficiency. The challenge is to lift hospital efficiency to a consistently high standard in every area of every NHS hospital and, where we already perform well, innovate to improve further.
“I do not think there is one single action we can take but I do believe there are significant benefits to be gained by helping hospitals, using comparative data, to become more productive.”
Talk of NHS reform might make some observers nervous in the wake of the former health secretary Andrew Lansley’s previous, and unpopular, NHS reorganisation – but Lord Carter insists these reforms need only be minor.
His findings highlight an example such as a hospital that was using the soluble version of a steroid costing £1.50 per pill, when it could have been paying 2p for the solid version. By using the soluble version for children and patients who have trouble swallowing – it can save £40,000 a year.
UK prime minister David Cameron recently committed to extra funding for the NHS in his first major speech following the Conservative party’s victory in the general election.
Cautious in the face of Tory optimism however, is the chair of the BMA consultant committee Dr Paul Flynn, who says: “The NHS is already the most efficient health care service in the world. With billions having been cut from the NHS budget in recent years through ‘efficiency savings’ and cuts to staff pay, we must ensure further reductions don’t compromise patient care and place more pressure on already overstretched services and staff.
“Better staff planning and procurement are important but we must be wary of trying to apply a one size fits all model of cost saving, as each hospital has their own unique set of challenges and circumstances.”
Flynn adds that efficiencies alone are not enough to deal with rising demand, and that there needs to be adequate investment in staff and services to ensure the NHS can rise to the ‘enormous challenges facing it’.
Lord Carter will follow his report by identifying what an efficient ‘model hospital’ looks like and producing a measure of efficiency called the ‘adjusted treatment index’.
Brett Wells
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