I've never understood why we don't have a central processing location for all NHS orders. The NHS is such a massive organisation, that would be ordering in massive quantities, that they would be able to get huge discounts on the upfront cost of everything from plasters and lightbulbs to ECG machines to toilet paper. Have a massive warehouse in Birmingham that orders in everything that's needed and ships it out to the individual facilities across the country.
“We” do have central purchasing for the NHS and have had for about 20 years. Called NHS Supply Chain, and set up by Tony Blair’s Labour govt, majority DHL owned. The Tories have since re-nationalised. It even negotiates service contracts. There used to be one large facility near Leeds, next to the M1 but there are now 3(?).