Peterborough: Hospital Accused Of Wasting Millions

21 November 2013, 07:35 | Updated: 21 November 2013, 12:33

Peterborough City hospital's been named as one of the most wasteful hospitals in England, because they pay too much for energy and water bills.

Research by the TaxPayers' Alliance has highlighted Peterborough City Hospital as one of the four most wasteful hospitals in England, and say they could've saved more than £1 million last year, if they'd paid average rates for energy.

£40 million in total was wasted on this by England's NHS, last year.

Money spent on excessive utility bills could have paid the salaries of more than 1,350 extra nurses, the TaxPayers' Alliance (TPA) said.

The NHS in England spent more than £630 million on energy and £80 million on water 2012-13.

But if NHS sites had paid the average rate, this could have saved more than £41.4 million.

The TPA, which based its analysis on official NHS statistics, said a number of hospitals could have saved more than £1 million each just by getting a better deal for their energy costs.

It has now called for a "war on waste'' in the NHS.

Matthew Sinclair, chief executive of the TPA, said: "People pay a lot of money to support the NHS in their taxes and they expect to see every penny possible spent on front-line care, not wasted overpaying for basics like energy and water.

"This is just one way for the NHS to save millions and ease the pressure on its finances created by years of runaway growth in costs.''

A spokeswoman for Peterborough and Stamford Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust said: "The Trust procures electricity through a national framework, available to all NHS Trusts. This ensures that we benefit from a reduced energy cost.

"The Trust is also regularly reviewing how we can save money on waste and utilities. Recently we have launched a cost improvement programme to restrict the flow of water in showers on wards, which will provide an approximate saving of £23,000 per year as a result of reduced water consumption.

"The Trust is currently piloting a recycling scheme to reduce the need for waste to be sent to landfill and we are also working with Anglian Water to provide a dual flushing system for toilets."