Hospitals are spending up to £16 for packs of rubber gloves which can be bought for just 35 pence, new NHS league tables show.

The Health Secretary said the NHS could save up to a £1 billion a year by opting for cheaper products, as he announced new tables naming the most and least efficient spenders.

Speaking at the NHS Providers conference in Birmingham, Mr Hunt said the health service “needs more funding, it is impossible to argue anything else”. He said he would make the case to the Treasury to go "as far as we can" in boosting funding.

But the Health Secretary also said trusts needed to use their resources more efficiently.

Hospitals paid between 35p and £16.47 for the same single pack of 12 rubber gloves – a 47-fold difference, the data shows. And a box of 100 plasters cost one trust £1.68, while another paid £21.76 – 13 times more.

Mr Hunt said: “The NHS is rightly recognised as one of the most efficient healthcare systems in the world and I am immensely grateful for your efforts to clamp-down on unnecessary waste.