Quote:
Originally Posted by Margaret Pilkington
When I was working I was involved in the Product User Group and I used to go to meetings where procurement of items was discussed and at that time, I know that we used to source items from different suppliers and we used to play companies off against one another to get better deals.
Obviously,I can't say what happens now as I have been out of the NHS for 12 years.
Shaving just a few pence off items that were used in their thousands meant a real saving.
|
my understanding is that these companies the NHS get quotes from go to the same conferences and go out socializing together after the conference day is over.Here is where they get each other drunk in the hope that lips become loose and contacts , prices etc are slipped out
as far as i could make out from what i was told the NHS gets visited by reps from medical companies and yes the NHS procurement team will negotiate a price but that will only be between a small number of reps from a small number of companies
what they wont do is look outside the box or indeed directly at the company selling to them and simply purchase the items they require at a much lower price
there is something severely wrong when a company can sell something for lets say £10 to the NHS that a person sat at home can buy for £5 from the exact same company from the exact same warehouse
it seems to me that when selling to the NHS prices are over inflated because its government footing the bill.The worrying part is that i can figure out how to buy things cheaper yet people employed and entrusted with NHS money cant