A group of NHS hospitals has saved £400,000 a year simply by all agreeing to use the same brand of rubber surgical gloves, it has emerged.

Seven hospitals in Sheffield joined forces to buy in bulk and reduce overheads by collaborating on a price matching scheme for 11 widely used products.

The initiative achieved a total saving of £2 million, simply by choosing the same brands and negotiating lower rates, a success with highlights the huge losses the health service is making by not taking advantage of its buying power.

It comes after it emerged there are huge disparities in how much hospital trusts are paying for everyday items, with some paying more than double the price for equipment such as surgical scalpels.

In November, Health and Social Care Secretary Jeremy Hunt announced hospital trusts would be put into a league table to help them compare prices in an attempt to save £300 million equipment procurement.

Mr Hunt said there was a ‘baffling variation’ in the prices that hospitals were paying for supplies.