The procurement landscape for medical devices in England: recent developments and applications to wound care

The process by which the English National Health Service (NHS) purchases and introduces innovation into its system of hospitals and general practitioner practices is crucial to realising the numerous benefits afforded by medical technologies. Several actions have recently been instituted into the procurement landscape for medical devices in England, including development of collaborative ‘procurement hubs’, National Contracts Procurement and reorganisation of the roles of key purchasing bodies, all principally under the auspices of the Supply Chain Excellence Programme. While most of these initiatives generally focus(ed) on short-term cost containment and efficacy gains, it has been argued that procurement decisions and practices should be increasingly grounded in providing greatest benefits to patients and providing the best value for money for the £15 billion spent each year by the NHS on goods and services.