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<p>The wide variety of choice in the current system is leading to duplication of wound
care products. This can create more complexity for nurses and clinicians, making their
clinical decisions more difficult and potentially leading to over specification and
variation in standards of care. Of the 4,796 wound care products available through
the NHS Supply Chain, 34% of lines have had no sales in the last 12 months.</p><br
/><p>Providing an agreed set of National Health Service requirements for wound care
products will start to reduce this duplication, complexity and therefore potential
risk, helping to improve patient outcomes through less variation in care.</p><br /><p>This
issue was also highlighted by 74% of respondents to a Royal College of Nursing survey
run by Nursing Times (Dec 2014) seeing opportunities to reduce duplication on wound
care products, (more than any other type of product).</p><br /><p>The project is part
of a wider piece of work the Department is working with the NHS Supply Chain on to
deliver £300 million of savings by October 2018. Central to this is reducing the number
of specifications and variations by category so the NHS can leverage its scale and
deliver clinically appropriate solutions that represent ‘value for money’. Such approaches
are common in other countries and help drive savings, improve clinical standards and
protect front line nursing.</p>
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