SIR – Seven hospitals save £400,000 on rubber gloves alone by grouping together. It is unbelievable that trusts have been buying alone.
The NHS, with its huge buying powers, should have a central base that handles all buying. Each trust would place orders with the base and not deal with suppliers themselves. In this way, the central base would build an expertise to obtain the very best prices. Suppliers would deliver goods to the ordering hospital, as normal.
The cost of setting up the system would soon be recovered by savings. It seems the NHS is in great need of the principles of good practice used by industry.
This power of scale should also be used when talking to the pharmaceutical industry....