THE NHS Trust which runs community nursing, therapy and mental health services in Worcestershire claims to have saved more than £300,000 by changing the way it buys and orders goods and services - and has put clinical staff at the heart of identifying more opportunities.

Worcestershire Health and Care NHS Trust’s ‘smarter’ programme encourages staff to work and do things differently in order to meet its financial targets without impacting on the quality of patient care.

Part of the programme has been about introducing better ways of procuring goods and services, such as changing the types of stationery, medical devices and other equipment staff can order - switching to a different type of examination glove used at the trust saved £15,000 alone.

Frontline nurses have got more involved in procurement as members of the trust’s clinical procurement group, using their knowledge to identify areas where money can be saved.

Jeremy Pewton, head of procurement, said: “We quickly identified that there were potential efficiencies just by looking at how we procured goods and services and we are really pleased that so far £300,000 has been saved.

“This is real money which goes a long way to helping the trust meet its financial targets and clearly the more of this we can do, the more we can protect jobs and frontline services.

“The knowledge and experience our clinical colleagues have is invaluable and the clinical procurement group has been able to tap into that knowledge to develop new projects and processes which will deliver more savings for the organisation without having a detrimental effect on the quality of care we provide.”

Sandra Brennan, director of nursing at Worcestershire Health and Care NHS Trust, added: “Quality is our absolute priority which is why we are working with staff to identify how we can save in areas which won’t compromise the high standards of care we provide to patients.

“Small changes in how we procure things like gloves or dressings and other equipment can have a really significant impact and by putting clinical staff at the heart of this process we are ensuring that the focus on quality is maintained.”