NHS could save £420,000 a year on breakfast products

The government claims that hospital trusts could get better deals on breakfast items and cut their bills by a third without compromising on the quality of food.

The Breakfast Savings Initiative, which 19 trusts participate in, is part of a drive to save £2.4 billion for the service and aims to end variation in the prices that different hospitals pay and to facilitate the swapping of items with like-for-like products.

Calling on the NHS to reduce the amount of money it spends on food and drink, the government says that some hospitals are paying inflated prices to suppliers for breakfast items such as tea, coffee, baked beans and juice. Apparently, some trusts could be paying 40 per cent more for tea or coffee than a neighbouring trust, with new data showing that the NHS buys enough tea to fill 60 million cups a year.

Stephen Hammond, minister for health, said: “The NHS serves up thousands of delicious breakfasts every day – but pays wildly different amounts for simple things like beans, tea and jam. By signing up to this deal [The Breakfast Savings Initiative], hospitals could save thousands of pounds every year that can help us improve services through our NHS long-term plan.”