UK health secretary Jeremy Hunt announced this week that NHS hospitals throughout the country will be ranked in a ‘Procurement League Table’ according to how much they are spending on goods and services. With ongoing wide variation in the amount hospitals are charged, and pay, for everyday goods like scalpels for instance, this is an attempt to reduce how much suppliers are charging the NHS by providing a means for comparison. Currently a trust holds individual agreements with suppliers, but a national NHS supply chain should allow for aggregated buying power for deals on price and quality. The league table shows for example that the five trusts at the bottom of the table could save over £11 million if they bought supplies at the best prices. The story is on Public Finance.