The NHS procurement strategy will result in a 6 per cent cost saving. Rotherham NHS Foundation Trust expects to reduce the orthopaedic procurement bill by 23 per cent.

The NHS spends annually £20bn on procurement and it expects that the new strategy, launched in March 2012, will cut the bill by £1.2bn. Rotherham has almost quadrupled this saving by buying in the expertise of procurement consultancy Inverto to support the Trust¹s Procurement Team.

The Team worked closely with the clinical director and the orthopaedic department. Savings were achieved by building strategic relationships with suppliers to leverage spend, benchmarking prices against national frameworks and improving stock management.

The work is part of a wider programme of procurement cost reduction at the Trust.

Ian Carmichael, Clinical Director and Consultant Orthopaedic Surgeon at the Trust, said: The joint team has exploited its collective clinical and commercial knowledge to unlock significant savings for the Trust. The number of suppliers and items has been reduced and my team now has a clear picture of the costs of the products they routinely use and through the engagement with surgeons, why certain procurement decisions have been made.

Richard McIntosh, UK Managing Director of Inverto, said: It was clear that in discussions with key stakeholders that there was a limited understanding of the impact the way products were being selected and sourced was having on cost per procedure. Working in partnership with the clinical lead and surgical teams will mean sustainable benefits in the long-term.