5 Ways the Medical Profession can Save Money and be Better at Business

We are constantly hearing in the media about the woeful state of the NHS and how there is a shortage of doctors, nurses etc. and how the pot is nearly empty. Anyone who works in the medical profession will tell you about the waste that exists within the NHS and they all have their ideas of how money could be saved and be spent where it is most needed. We have considered this carefully and here are our suggestions for 5 ways in which the medical profession can save money.

Training

You forget just how many careers exist within the medical profession. Those ‘behind the scenes’ staff who by their very presence keep the profession going. Take porters for example, hospitals would grind to a halt without these trusty stalwarts and they, like all the rest, often have to undergo training. Employing online training rather than sending them off the a classroom for hours on end will not only save money but cause a lot less hassle logistically. To keep the necessary quota in place and paying others overtime to ensure this would save an awful lot of money over the course of a year.

Food

Everyone complains about hospital food and quite frankly who can blame them. Rather than buy in fresh food and cook it many hospitals are now buying in readymade meals which the nursing staff heat up in microwaves on the ward. This is taking the nurses away from their essential duties and what use is a processed meal completely lacking in any kind of vitamins and nutrition to patients recovering from illnesses or surgery?

Too many chiefs

This isn’t a problem restricted to the NHS obviously, but the term too many chiefs and not enough Indians is certainly relevant when referring to the modern medical profession. With modern technology there is no need for so many supervisors and managers. In days gone by there was a matron, the sisters and the nurses, the matron have now been replaced by several managers who sit in offices all day juggling numbers. How can this be cost effective or be in the best interests of the patients? The simple fact is that there are far too many people in the NHS sitting behind desks instead of being involved in actual healthcare. They command bigger wages than those on the front line and invariably get a golden handshake on retiring, unlike those life savers beneath them who have to manage on the pension they have paid into during the time they have spent working for the NHS.

Supplies

There are very few companies who supply medical essential such as gloves and other disposable items so they charge through the nose for it. Why are there over 77 types of different disposable gloves? Surely you only need a few; latex and non-latex etc. All those managers sitting trying to juggle figures would be best off shopping around to save money on these supplies. Every business knows that sticking with the same supplier rather than shopping around costs more and as today’s medical profession is very much a business they should be taking a leaf out of other’s books and doing the same.

Drugs

Apart from the shocking stat that £150m worth of drugs are wasted every year this again boils down to suppliers. As with everything else there are suppliers the NHS use which cost the earth but plenty more who could supply them cheaper if they shopped around. A paracetamol is a paracetamol at the end of the day, so why pay £2 a pack when a supermarket can sell them for less than £1 and still make a profit?

So, as is clear to see there are numerous ways that the medical industry can cut down and saveon costs.