Aderma® - NHS Reform, not the most cost effective way to save.

Feb. 1, 2011 - PRLog -- Plans to modernise the NHS are estimated to save £5 billion by 2015 and £1.7 billion every year after, however is this the most cost-effective, morale boosting and least disruptive way to ensue efficiency savings?

Using the figures stated above by 2016 the NHS should of saved at least £6.7 billion due to the reform. However taking into consideration the £2 - £3 billion cost to implement (warning issued in the British Medical Journal by a leading academic) this takes the figure down to a possible overall saving of £3.7 billion.

Unfortunately to get to this saving an expected 24,500 managerial staff are expected to lose their jobs, strategic health authorities and primary care trusts are to be abolished causing uncertainty among frontline nurses and due to the GP Consortia it poses a phenomenal weight on GP’s shoulders.  It is also not guaranteed that any improvement to patients services will occur.

Nevertheless something has to be done to bring the NHS into the 21st century and modernising and reorganising it is visibly needed. Pressure ulcers currently affect around 412,000 patients every year in the UK. The cost of treating a pressure ulcer can vary depending on its severity, however the annual cost is estimated to be between £1.4 - £2.1 billion, which is 4% of the NHS budget (Bennett et al, age & ageing 2004) . Any reduction in pressure ulcers would therefore help reduce NHS costs whilst simultaneously improving patient care.

Aderma® has proven it could save the NHS a total of £1.7 billion every year with an introduction of national standardisation of use, which from now until 2016 would ensure a total saving of £8.5 billion, with no-one losing their job and no disruptive measures enforced.

Aderma® is an effective pressure relieving device which has been proven through various clinical evaluations, including a tissue assessment using ultrasound scanning. It is recognised as best practice in reducing the number of incidences of pressure damage and was recently awarded platinum position for innovation in wound care and pressure ulcer prevention.

Aderma® would more than double the saving that the NHS reform is proposing whilst concurrently reducing the number of pressure ulcers within the NHS which have a debilitating effect on patients. Therefore I ask you again, are the currently proposed  reforms the most cost-effective, morale boosting and least disruptive way to ensue efficiency savings?

For more information on Aderma® visit www.aderma.info