The government has launched a crackdown on waste in the NHS, intended to save millions of pounds a year and in turn divert more resources to frontline care.
The new strategy, called the 'Design for Life Roadmap', is aiming to radically cut the number of single-use medical devices in the health service as well as reduce reliance on foreign imports.
Disposable medical devices make up a large proportion of the 156,000 tonnes of clinical waste that the NHS produces every year in England alone. Millions of devices like walking aids and surgical instruments are thrown away after one use.
The roadmap aims to cut this waste and maximise reuse, remanufacture and recycling in the NHS.
For example, Harmonic shears – surgical devices which seal patients’ wounds using ultrasound waves – cost more than £500 each and around 90 per cent of them are thrown away after one use.
Around £10 billion a year is spent on medical technology in the NHS.
A Circular Economy Taskforce has already been created to foster more highly skilled green jobs and smarter use of resources.
Health and social care secretary Wes Streeting said: "The NHS is broken. It is the mission of this government to get it back on its feet, and we can’t afford a single penny going to waste.
"Because the NHS deals in the billions, too often it doesn’t think about the millions. That has to change. This government inherited a £22 billion blackhole in the public finances, so we will have a laser-like focus on getting better value for taxpayers’ money.
"Every year, millions of expensive medical devices are chucked in the bin after being used just once. We are going to work closely with our medical technology industry, to eliminate waste and support homegrown medtech and equipment."
The government has highlighted case studies that illustrate potential savings.
Mid Yorkshire Trust previously used 330,000 single-use tourniquets in a year. However a single reusable tourniquet can be used 10,000 times. In a one-year trial, reusable alternatives saved £20,000 in procurement costs and 0.75 metric tonnes of plastic waste.
In Northampton Hospitals NHS Trust, a single Ophthalmology department saved 1,000 pairs of disposable scissors and £12,000 in a year by switching to reusable pairs.
The new roadmap sets out 30 actions aimed at reducing this kind of waste. The actions include the government working with companies to encourage the production of more sustainable products, and training for NHS staff on how to use them.
Health minister Baroness Gillian Merron said: "Design for Life doesn’t just deliver on the Health Mission, to build an NHS fit for the future, it also delivers on our Growth Mission to make the UK a life science superpower and our commitment to get the NHS to net zero by 2045."
Professor Sir Stephen Powis, national medical director of NHS England, said: "While the NHS is treating record numbers of patients, we know there is much more to do to ensure taxpayers get value for money.
"The NHS made a record £7.25bn worth of efficiency savings last year and is targeting a further £9bn of savings for 2024/25. But we are rightly still looking for ways to get our money’s worth for every penny we spend."
