[the truth]

I take my hat off to Lord Carter , this is an exhaustive research and his studies will save our NHS billions in the long term. Its galling to think how the NHS broken up into these trusts has been paying vastly inflated prices to suppliers of equipment and staff for decades. Irrespective of party politics getting on top of the vast waste and mismanagement that has gone on too long and prematurely cost so many patients their lives.

I hope every single part of the nhs is studied and pulled up root and branch so see if theres a better way for the state to run the nhs. I am 100% in favour of spending more on getting all scanners working far far more hours 7 days a week and as with the hip operations, in the long term the investment in quality and in staffing scanners will save massive amounts of money and lives.

Bravo

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-33071066

Lord Carter has spent a year studying 22 hospitals in England and finds £5 billion per annum savings, with improved staff organisation and a better approach to bulk purchasing.

He found a wide variation in spending across medicines, everyday items and on facilities, such as heating.

He also identified huge inefficiencies in the way staff were managed, with one hospital losing £10,000 a month through workers claiming too much leave.

The report, which will be published in full later, will also say hospitals need to make better use of staff through flexible working and better rostering.




Meanwhile, better use of medicines could also have a substantial impact, the efficiency review said.

Lord Carter found one hospital had managed to save £40,000 a year by using non-soluble versions of a tablet for liver failure that cost 2p instead of the soluble versions at £1.50.

He also said major savings could be made on everyday items such as syringes and aprons with prices varying by as much as a third.

The review recommended a single electronic catalogue be created for the purchasing of such goods.


◾By 2019-20, the review believes £5bn a year could be saved across staffing, medicines, everyday items and estates.
◾Some £2bn of that could come from changes to improving the way rosters are run and making sure non-productive time such as training and annual leave is better managed.
◾Meanwhile £1bn each could be saved from the bills of medicines, estates and procurement of everyday goods.
◾The NHS uses 500,000 different lines of everyday items with the price between similar goods varying by over 35% compared to 1% to 2% in other health systems.




Lord Carter also found that hip operations were costing some parts of the NHS more than double the amount they should.

And the hips used did not last as long as less expensive versions, meaning patients needed more replacements and follow-up care.

That difference costs the NHS up to £17m extra every year.

Lord Carter said the gains could be "significant".


Lord Carter will publish a template for an efficient "model hospital" during the summer followed by a report by September in which he and the Department of Health will set out what each hospital is expected to save by putting in place the report's recommendations.

Nuffield Trust chief executive Nigel Edwards said: "Lord Carter is right that there is waste within the health service and that enormous savings could be made through standardisation.

"But this has been a long-standing issue in the NHS. Spending public money better has been the holy grail of public-sector spending reductions over the past 20 years.

"Diagnosing the problem is the easy bit. Getting solutions to stick is much, much harder."

[JoshBB]

I think if the government could give money back to social care and get people out of the beds it could definitely clear up the hospital and make it a better service.

The cuts to social care really need to be reversed,

[user104658]

They could save a lot more than that on medicines if they stopped over prescribing and pumping people full of course after course of antibiotics "just incase". Countless billions wasted on pointless pills. But that will never stop because then people would miss out on their nice big fat pharma kickback cheques.

[Kizzy]

What an idiot, the NHS get rid of managers as they need money for patient care then let some crusty old peer with no clinical experience make decisions like this :/
The reason soluble tabs are given is they are better absorbed into tissue, in cases of organ failure solid ma come up or pass undissolved... what's the point in those?

[the truth]

Originally Posted by Kizzy

What an idiot, the NHS get rid of managers as they need money for patient care then let some crusty old peer with no clinical experience make decisions like this :/
The reason soluble tabs are given is they are better absorbed into tissue, in cases of organ failure solid ma come up or pass undissolved... what's the point in those?

soluble tablets are essential in some cases not others, what about all the other findings, are you ecstatic to see savings found and waste exposed? aren't you excited to see money saved and lives saved?

[Kizzy]

I don't believe that this is an expose of failings and/or overspending in any way, Nuffield trust will be wanting a slice of the most profitable areas so of course they will be backing these recommendations as they are another step nearer tendering out.
Filthy lucre that's all that's on anyones mind, nothing to do with lives saved or improving existing services.

[the truth]

Originally Posted by Kizzy

I don't believe that this is an expose of failings and/or overspending in any way, Nuffield trust will be wanting a slice of the most profitable areas so of course they will be backing these recommendations as they are another step nearer tendering out.
Filthy lucre that's all that's on anyones mind, nothing to do with lives saved or improving existing services.

saving lives certainly not your priority, far more important to make cheap petty attacks....were you as angry and outraged when the Stafford hospital scandal was exposed under your partys watch? I doubt it that didn't quite play to your agenda did it..........shameful

[Kizzy]

What scandal, an underfunded understaffed hospital?
Now we have private ambulance firms and staffing agencies draining resources due to the minimum requirements from the subsequent inquiry into failings... which have recently been ignored again so watch for the next 'scandal' due to lack of clinical care/money/resources.

[the truth]

Originally Posted by Kizzy

What scandal, an underfunded understaffed hospital?
Now we have private ambulance firms and staffing agencies draining resources due to the minimum requirements from the subsequent inquiry into failings... which have recently been ignored again so watch for the next 'scandal' due to lack of clinical care/money/resources.

1000 plus innocent patients neglected and starved to death ? and that's not a scandal.....how utterly sub human....this is a new low even for you...and by the way who underfunded them? your pals at new labour...DISGUSTING

[Kizzy]

More evidence the tories are dismantling the NHS...

'One of the NHS’s biggest and most prestigious hospitals has been put into special measures after inspectors said failings including serious staff shortages were putting patients’ safety at risk.

Addenbrooke’s hospital in Cambridge, renowned for providing high-quality care including excellence in organ transplant medicine, has become the 26th NHS trust in England to be placed into the NHS’s improvement regime.

Problems recruiting enough staff and the sheer demand for care meant that planned operations were often cancelled and the maternity unit had to close regularly. In addition, patients were waiting longer than the maximum 18 weeks for elective care and up to 51 weeks for an outpatient appointment for eye care.'

http://www.theguardian.com/society/2...taff-shortages