EBME Forums Forums Maintenance Spare Parts Spare parts rip off!

just phoned GE for a price.
Vivid i battery rechargable 16.8v li-ion same idea as a laptop battery

£816.04

Yes. That qualifies as a gouge.

(wonder how they can justify the 4 pence)

Wall of Shame

"Shocking" We were quoted £350ish for a PDM battery, Li-ion 11.1V 1850Ah. As yet not available from Euro or Combat, Have you tried them for yours?

It's always heart warming to "learn" that these caring companies ... er, care so much!

Another gouge

Oxford was bought out by Huntleigh some years ago. We bought the covers for their CTG transducers originally at £9 odd for a pack of fifty in 2008 (from Huntleigh). That same pack is now £46 from Arjo Huntleigh. GOUGE!

I actually said that I was not impressed that they had applied Zimbabwean interest rates...

Why oh why is there not an NHS department dedicated to stamping out these rip-offs? They could revoke any orders with that company until it promised to charge a fair price for parts and repairs without extortion.

Bravo! Clare.

The thought occurs about "economies of scale"! That is, if parts were purchased centrally, then the people doing the buying would have a bit more clout, as it were.

How about the various EBME Departments clubbing together on this (purchasing parts)? That is, buying in bulk.

You could even set up a company to do that. You could call it EBME Ltd., for example. Oh no ... that one's already taken!

Meanwhile, Doom on all Gougers. Let's continue to Name and Shame (them) - I wonder if they take any notice?

You could even set up a company to do that. You could call it EBME Ltd., for example. Oh no ... that one's already taken!

Crackin Idea Geoffrey why not call it " NHS Supplies " ha ha
wonder whatever happened to them then ??

Or perhaps now it could be " Dr,s Supplies " now that " Call me Dave " is letting them run the show as it were !!

Still a change is as good as a rest I suppose.

I actually believe that a consortium (shall we call it that?) of NHS EBME Departments willing to collaborate would be a good idea. And why not form a company ... not just for buying parts at "pile 'em high, and sell 'em cheap(er)" prices, but also to provide biomed services as well?


Only this afternoon I was discussing the idea with one of my colleagues about having a (another?) go at putting techs into NHS Biomed Shops ... only this time, without the "benefit" of Agencies*. As we know, with the "Agency Model" there is zilch tech support (to the bloke(s) on site). But with us, back-up (of all kinds) would be there if and when it was called for!

Perhaps we just need an experienced bloke to go around visiting the hospitals on our behalf. Do you know of anyone like that, Tony? Someone with a bit of time on their hands, perhaps?

* I know that you know what I mean there, Mate.

If you did collectively buy, would there still be the indemnities that we currently get??

Surely any consortium, or co-operative group, would be the purchasing party and acting as an agent, therefore the supplier would not pass the indemnity forward.

This is how the little beggars worm out of letting us do this, and continue the finacial grip on the short and curlies under the guise of "recouping development costs".

There is a consortium out there called [url=supplychain.nhs.uk/url] run by DHL. It looks like they are gearing up for "world" domination. We alredy use their purchasing power to get certain service contracts. Funnliy enough at exactly the same price we would get if we went directly to the companies!
I have been gouged by a small player in the X-Ray world, charging £5 for an individual screw! £1000 for a 7 metre 20 way cable and £350 for an off the shelf solenoid.