NHS: Drugs

Mr. Lansley
To ask the Secretary of State for Health what guidance his Department has issued to hospital trusts on the purchasing of medicines in the last five years.

Dawn Primarolo
The NHS Purchasing and Supply Agency (PASA) works to ensure that the national health service in England makes the most effective use of its resources by getting the best possible value for money when purchasing goods and services. The prime target is to release money that could be better spent on patient care by achieving purchasing savings and improving supply performance across the NHS. It provides strategic direction and oversees the development of category strategies and seeks to ensure that NHS procurement is delivered through consistent processes. Where sourcing issues require a national lead they will provide that focus on behalf of the Department. A wide range of guidance is published for the use of those involved in NHS procurement and is available on NHS PASA’s website at:

www.pasa.nhs.uk/PASAWeb/NHSprocurement/AboutNHSPASA/LandingPage.htm

NHS PASA works with trust pharmacists to deliver the procurement of medicines for secondary care via a nationally agreed sourcing strategy. The focus of this work will be to ensure security of supply, delivery of savings and enabling the NHS to realise improvements in the supply chain. Detailed guidance on the procurement of individual medicines is provided where necessary on a case by case basis.