Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what discussions his Department has had with NHS Supply Chain on that organisation's decision on the choice of urine drainage bags available through the NHS Core List Programme.

The NHS Supply Chain Core List Programme was developed in collaboration with NHS Business Services Authority and the Department. The Core List aims to achieve best value by reducing the range of like-for-like products that the National Health Service purchases. This allows the NHS to commit to larger volumes of a smaller range of products which in turn allows suppliers to provide improved prices to the NHS as greater economies of scale in manufacturing can be achieved.

Items identified as ‘Core List’ have been reviewed and assessed by a selection of industry specialists, clinical advisors and customers. Products not included in the NHS Core List are not discontinued and are therefore still available for purchase via the wider NHS catalogue offered by NHS Supply Chain.

Ultimately, decisions with regard to which urine drainage bag to purchase lies with the procurement team for each individual NHS trust.