Northerner
Admin (Retired)
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 1
Calls for a statement of ethical procurement to be included in the NHS constitution as public sector lags behind business.
"There are some horrible working conditions; kids as young as seven making surgical instruments; people losing limbs. It's horrendous," says Dr Mahmoud Bhutta, consultant surgeon and founder of the British Medical Association's (BMA) Medical Fair and Ethical Trade Group, established in 2007. "Many of the companies [which supply the NHS] have been burying their heads in the sand."
Bhutta does not hold back in his criticism of the companies that collectively spend £30bn of public money on behalf of the NHS. The publication of new BMA guidance for GPs and commissioners, which strive to protect workers' rights in medical supply chains, only highlights the lack of progress since 2008 when the guidelines were released.
Part of the problem is the disparate way in which goods are sourced within the NHS. There is no single large customer, but rather individual hospitals, GP surgeries and dentists buying the kit they need. But there is no way of getting round the painful paradox that sees products used to improve health in this country being sourced from developing nations where workers' health is endangered, and sometimes destroyed, as a result of their production.
http://www.theguardian.com/sustainable-business/nhs-healthcare-supply-chain-guidelines
"There are some horrible working conditions; kids as young as seven making surgical instruments; people losing limbs. It's horrendous," says Dr Mahmoud Bhutta, consultant surgeon and founder of the British Medical Association's (BMA) Medical Fair and Ethical Trade Group, established in 2007. "Many of the companies [which supply the NHS] have been burying their heads in the sand."
Bhutta does not hold back in his criticism of the companies that collectively spend £30bn of public money on behalf of the NHS. The publication of new BMA guidance for GPs and commissioners, which strive to protect workers' rights in medical supply chains, only highlights the lack of progress since 2008 when the guidelines were released.
Part of the problem is the disparate way in which goods are sourced within the NHS. There is no single large customer, but rather individual hospitals, GP surgeries and dentists buying the kit they need. But there is no way of getting round the painful paradox that sees products used to improve health in this country being sourced from developing nations where workers' health is endangered, and sometimes destroyed, as a result of their production.
http://www.theguardian.com/sustainable-business/nhs-healthcare-supply-chain-guidelines