NHS Overcharged for drugs

Unfortunately the NHS today bares no resemblance to when it was founded 73 years ago.

It is the biggest employer in the U.K.

The purchasing departments have taken their eye off of the ball. Drug reps trawl from GP surgery to hospital acquisition department’s selling their wares.

The drug companies have to make profits to fund their R & D department’s.

I am not in the least surprised that they have been paying over the odds for items.

Quite agree, GrannyGravy. Such a huge organisation should have real purchasing power with a centralised purchasing department acting for all the various trusts. They excel at wasting taxpayers’ money and keep wanting more and more of it. I blame the NHS completely, not the drug companies who as you say are commercial enterprises needing to make profits for good reason, not charities.

Have you read the article from the Guardian, or taken any time and effort to find out the facts?
Would you like some more information that you can read to inform you of what the issues are?
If you have anything substantive, please send us the links.

Just read it Casdon. Daisy age has got hold of the wrong end of the stick. It was NO fault of the NHS. As you say read it before commenting.

how did this continue for so long
Not enough people care about spending taxpayers money.

I have read the article, in business and the NHS is basically a business the buyer should be aware of and question the cost of everything they purchase.

If this substantial and quick increase had been picked up straight away and if the NHS had a central acquisition department they would have had more leverage on the price they paid.

The truth of this is more sinister though, not just a case of NHS procurement taking their eye off the ball. The pharmaceutical company in question either bought out or threatened other manufacturers to the extent that they ended up as the only manufacturer and thus only supplier to the NHS.

I previously worked for a company who sold products to the NHS. The products were sold for far more than other customers buying exactly the same product. My understanding is that the NHS did not query the price. Private customers negotiated and got a much better price. There was nothing to stop the NHS going the same . They just seemed to have a rubbish procurement team.

In a single provider situation where the purchaser is unaware of the dirty deals being carried out by the provider, and where there is no option to a specific drug for a group of patients, other than reporting that provider what else did you expect the NHS to do GrannyGravy13, wave a magic wand perhaps?
lowdownnhs.info/drugs/billions-are-spent-by-the-nhs-on-drugs-every-year-but-how-does-it-work/

Casdon magic wand not needed.

If there had of been one procurement division for the entire NHS with at least one section keeping an eye on drugs companies and their ownership/takeover situation they might have been ahead of the curve.

The NHS is the equivalent of a major conglomerate, I am not in favour of its privatisation but the administration side needs to be more professional and streamlined to free up resources for the medical staff.

There isn’t an ‘entire NHS’, it’s devolved for the nations. I hadn’t realised that there are 9 purchasing organisations for England, apologies for that as I can see how that may result in differential purchasing, which doesn’t happen in the others. This paper explains it well.
www.sps.nhs.uk/articles/an-overview-of-nhs-procurement-of-medicines-and-pharmaceutical-products-and-services-for-acute-care-in-the-united-kingdom/
It is within the gift of the Department of Health for England to change the structure if they want to do that, as I understand it it is they who determine the overarching structure of the NHS.