NHS Property Services has announced that the NHS has saved £15 million so far thanks to the rationalisation of facilities management contracts.

The streamlined contracts have been introduced to ‘improve the provision of FM services’ throughout the property portfolio of the NHS and will cut the number of suppliers from more than 1,000 to less than 20, as well as reducing the amount of outsourced deals from 2,300 to 249.

NHS Property Services Chief Operating Officer, Dennis Markey, said that this is a great achievement for their FM teams and will see significant cost savings for the NHS.

He added: “By reducing the number of contractors we employ and setting a standard service specification, this process is already driving efficiencies for the NHS, with £15 million already saved and an expected total saving of £22 million by year end, which will be reinvested back into patient care.”

Meanwhile, almost 1,000 staff have been TUPE transferred into NHS Property Services.

In March, Mitie secured the £100 million hard FM services contract, where it will provide maintenance services and building fabric over the next three years.

Of the 31 lots, Mitie secured 25 of them, while other successful bidders for hard services included Integral, which was recently acquired by commercial property services provider JLL for £226 million.

Whereas the soft FM contracts were given to a series of firms, including Ideal Cleaning Services, Mitie’s security and pest control divisions, PHS Group and OCS.

Earlier in the month it was revealed that the NHS is already starting to suffer from the side effects of the Brexit vote in terms of supplying and purchasing treatments and medications.

After the EU referendum, the fall of the pound is having an alarming impact on the NHS’ purchasing of pharmaceuticals, which has left many patients waiting for, or without, the proper treatments.