Tories promise transparent procurement

Shadow health minister Stephen O’Brien has called more localised and transparent procurement in the NHS and an end to Labour’s “obsession with confidentiality.”

Speaking in London this morning, O’Brien laid out four principles for procurement under a Conservative government, while holding up the National Programme for IT in the NHS as an example of Labour’s “failed” “top down” approach.

“NPfIT is a clear example of a centralised procurement strategy, which has stalled time and time again,” he said. “Purchasing goods and services is more effective from the bottom up than the top down.

“Labour’s focus has been more on purchasing power than on the patient. It’s one size fits all procurement strategy has done more harm than good.”

O’Brien told the Smarthealthcare event, which is focusing on procurement, that the four lessons to be learned for better procurement were: the need for transparency, the need for more patient-driven procurement, the need for more innovation and the need for more choice.

“The public has a right to know how and where their money is spent. Labour has an obsession with confidentiality,” he said, adding that trusts should make information about their activities more widely available.

O’Brien commissioned a review of healthcare IT last year that was due to report this spring. This morning he said the review had been completed and would be published later this summer.

He refused to be drawn on its contents, although he did say it would not only analyse current problems but propose solutions and alternatives.

In response to questions, however, he put some detail on another area of Conservative policy, saying that its commitment to scrapping NHS targets would extend to the 18 week wait and four hour accident and emergency wait.

“The 18 week and four hour target benefits have now long since passed. They were helpful to force change, but they are now driving people to do things they usually would not do,” he said, arguing that ‘gaming’ was a real concern.