UK healthcare reforms invite higher costs for suppliers

LONDON, UK, 7 September 2011 – Proceur Ltd, the European healthcare procurement network, notes that long-awaited healthcare reforms in the UK took a major step forward today as the Health and Social Care Bill passed the lower parliamentary chamber (House of Commons).  The reforms aim to increase competition within the public health service (NHS), offering more choice to patients and reducing bureaucracy.  However, for suppliers a plethora of new customers expected in the next 2-3 years implies a structural shift in sales and marketing costs.  Proceur Ltd helps reduce these costs by delivering customers directly to your doorstep.  To find out more, visit www.proceur.com

To illustrate the governments’ commitment to increase competition amongst NHS service providers, Health Minister Lord Howe at the King’s Fund conference today, said:

“Patients deserve better…  The NHS can be better… We do not favour one sector over another… rather we favour a level playing field where the only determinant of who provides a service is the quality of that service.”

Notes to editors:

Reforms to the public National Health Service (NHS) were proposed shortly after the Conservative/Liberal Democrat coalition government came to power in May 2010 and include:

• From 2013, giving General Practitioners (GPs) budgetary responsibility for commissioning and contracting care for patients within their catchment areas.  Currently, commissioning is arranged by Primary Care Trusts (PCTs), many of whom also operate secondary care services and are potentially subject to conflicts of interest.
• Making all public hospitals in England become ‘Foundation Trusts’.  These organisations have substantial financial and operational independence from central government – making sustainability more dependent on local market factors such as service relevance, quality and access.
• Reducing NHS management costs by 45%, by removing layers of management including PCTs and Strategic Health Authorities.

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About Proceur Ltd

Proceur brings European healthcare buyers and suppliers closer together.  We help healthcare services organisations better manage their procurement expenditure by reducing complexity and cost, allowing savings to be reinvested in service expansion.  For suppliers, the European customer base remains highly fragmented – with over 50,000 healthcare locations across 27 countries.  Proceur rationalises market access costs through our proprietary buying network.  The company was founded in 2011 by Martin Whitbread, an expert in healthcare services with over a decade in the industry as an equity analyst at Morgan Stanley and Credit Suisse.  For more information, visit www.proceur.com.

For further information please contact:

Proceur Ltd

Martin Whitbread, Chief Executive Officer      +44 20 72 22 22 90        This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.