[Osem]

Yes, that's got to be one of the problems with the current system - numerous little and not so little trusts all buying stuff from all sorts of sources and not benefitting from the purchasing power the NHS as a whole could command. I can see it makes sense for certain goods and services to be sourced locally but wouldn't it be more cost effective to purchase the numerous basic consumable items centrally? Of course I'm presuming that those responsible for central purchasing would be a lot more financially astute than those who've been wasting money so blatantly but maybe that's too big a presumption...