Bill Wilson MSP

Dr Bill Wilson, an SNP MSP for the West of Scotland, today called for NHS Scotland to emulate the NHS in England by adopting a comprehensive ethical sourcing policy.

Announcing that he had lodged a motion on the subject, Dr Wilson said:  “I welcome the NHS Purchasing and Supply Agency publication, Ethical Procurement for Health: Guidance, a document for use by the NHS in England aimed at promoting stronger, fairer and more ethical trade in the health sector, and I urge Scotland to follow suit.

“I recently met representatives of the BMA’s Medical Fair and Ethical Trade Group when they addressed MSPs in the Scottish Parliament.  Dr Mahmood Bhutta told me of the group’s fact-finding visit to Pakistan where they found children as young as seven working to make surgical instruments purchased by the NHS, in conditions that would certainly not pass muster here.

“We were also shown a film of a man operating a lethal-looking metal-punch with no safety-guards.  At one point all the MSPs present shuddered and looked away as it appeared as if the man would lose his fingers.  What heals here in the UK might be crippling people elsewhere!

“It’s not just a matter of dumping suppliers who use child labour and/or treat their workers badly, however.  That can leave poor people worse off.  Ethical Procurement for Health: Guidance advocates a nuanced and graduated approach that should help improve the lives of poor people overseas.  It is a step-by-step guide that draws on the ethical procurement experience of numerous organisations.

“In this globalised era the purchasing decisions that we make here in Scotland can have profound effects, for good and ill, thousands of miles away.  With the information available today, there is no excuse for adopting a ‘hear no evil, see no evil’ approach, and I would like to see all public bodies, not just NHS Scotland, take this seriously.”

Dr Bhutta commented:  “As with other manufacturing industries we have evidence to show that globalisation of trade has lead to outsourcing in the manufacture of many medical commodities.  Unfortunately this often means that we lose visibility of where products are being made, and that can lead to a failure to protect the rights and health of workers around the world.  The markets for these products are global and huge, and we need a global response to this issue. I am heartened to hear today enthusiasm and a call for moral leadership from Scotland.”

Notes to Editors

1.  Text of motion

S3M-05092 Bill Wilson (West of Scotland) (Scottish National Party): Ethical Procurement in the NHS— That the Parliament welcomes the NHS Purchasing and Supply Agency publication, Ethical Procurement for Health: Guidance, a document for use by the NHS in England to promote stronger, fairer and more ethical trade in the health sector; considers that the need for such a publication was underlined by the findings of a recent delegation of the British Medical Association’s Medical Fair and Ethical Trade Group to Pakistan, which found, amongst other things, that, in a single street in Sialkot, 10 children were at work making surgical instruments, including some as young as seven, and calls on NHS Scotland to use Ethical Procurement for Health: Guidance as the basis for developing similar guidance in Scotland.

2.  Previous press releases on procurement