QIPP, Efficiency & Savings

Lord Carter finds ‘critical variations’ in community and mental health review

24.05.18: Provision and efficiency of community health services need to be “significantly strengthened,” alongside a greater and stronger workforce to meet the needs growing demand for mental health, are amongst the findings in the latest revi...

A modular approach to procurement

11.04.18: To support the ongoing national focus on driving up procurement standards in healthcare, NHS Shared Business Services (NHS SBS) is set to launch a new flexible services approach that can be tailored to the individual needs of trusts, explains it...

Seven hospitals team up to save £2m in pioneering Sheffield ‘price match’ scheme

05.04.18: A clinician-led ‘price match’ scheme in Sheffield that saw staff and patients work across seven hospitals to agree on the best products for bulk buying has helped divert millions of pounds into the frontline. According to NHS En...

Beyond scented candles and quick fixes

07.02.18: Joni Jabbal, researcher at The King’s Fund, asks why quality improvements and innovations are failing to be adopted by the NHS. There is now good evidence that embedding a quality improvement approach – where you systematically...

NHS procurement: a towering future?

02.02.18: Mario Varela, managing director of NHS London Procurement Partnership (LPP), describes the work his organisation has been undertaking in recent months to help manage NHS procurement, all whilst continuing to carry out business as usual. It...

A major shift in shared services

26.01.18: With many clinicians describing this as the most pressured winter they have ever known due to heavy demand on frontline services, the savings potential for hospitals from outsourced and managed services in the NHS back office cannot be dismissed...

World-best innovations supported to scale

20.12.17: Programme director Dr Amanda Begley introduces the high-impact innovations selected to join the 2017 NHS Innovation Accelerator (NIA), addressing key challenges in primary care, urgent & emergency care and mental health. In June of this...

New Basingstoke hospital plans scrapped after CCG meeting

04.12.17: Plans to build a new critical treatment hospital in Basingstoke have been scrapped after a meeting of Hampshire CCGs found it was unaffordable. The new facility was part of plans to improve the health and social care system in Hampshire and...

Operation Barcode: selecting technology to succeed

22.11.17: The benefits of Scan4Safety have been widely reported as extremely encouraging, with over £700,000 of savings already identified by the six demonstrator sites – mostly as a result of asset-tracking applications that improve inventory...

Hammond dismissive of health organisations’ £4bn claim

20.11.17: Chancellor Philip Hammond has rejected calls from health organisations for an additional £4bn in NHS funding. Speaking to the BBC’s Andrew Marr, Hammond said the heads of public services always predicted an ‘Armageddon&rsq...

Good procurement is the shared responsibility of all staff

31.08.17: As a new report this month points to the ‘huge differences in the amounts different trusts are paying for similar surgical products’, Peter Akid, director of procurement at NHS Shared Business Services, explains how the Getting It Ri...

GS1 standards: a weapon against counterfeit drugs

11.08.17: Glen Hodgson, head of healthcare at GS1 UK, explores the rising problem of counterfeit drugs and the legislation being introduced to tackle it. Counterfeit drugs are a global problem. World Health Organization data puts the sales of counter...

NHSE to stop prescribing homeopathic treatments in £190m savings drive

24.07.17: A new action plan to reduce the amount of wasteful and ineffective drug prescriptions, which could save the health service over £190m a year, has been launched by NHS England. The scheme could see 18 treatments, including homeopathy a...

Leading the way in barcoding the healthcare system

23.06.17: Glen Hodgson, head of healthcare at GS1 UK, explores how GS1 standards are delivering real value in the NHS in England. At the beginning of this year, we celebrated the first anniversary of the launch of Scan4Safety – the name chosen...

How effective is your surveillance?

04.04.17: The surveillance camera commissioner, Tony Porter, reflects on how complying with his code could help trusts save money and improve the efficiency of their surveillance activity. Early in the year, Home Office minister Brandon Lewis rejecte...