Agreements for the supply of surgical gloves

Hospital devices Decision

PHARMAC is pleased to announce the approval of agreements with EBOS Group Limited (“EBOS”), Mölnlycke Health Care Pty Ltd (“Mölnlycke”) and REM SYSTEMS Limited (“REM”) for the supply of sterile surgical gloves to DHB hospitals.

These agreements were the subject of a consultation letter dated 20 February 2017 which can be found on PHARMAC’s website.

In summary:

  • 228 surgical glove products will be listed in Section H, Part III (‘Optional Pharmaceuticals’) of the Pharmaceutical Schedule on 1 April 2017.
  • The contract pricing offers an estimated annual savings of $400,000 (5 year NPV of $1.4 million) based on the figures supplied by EBOS, Mölnlycke and REM, for the 12-month period ending 30 June 2016.

Details of the decision

In June 2016 PHARMAC issued a surgical gloves request for proposal (“RFP”), for non-exclusive national agreements for medical devices to be listed on the Pharmaceutical Schedule, for DHB hospitals to purchase from. This was reissued in November 2016 with a change in mandatory requirements. PHARMAC subsequently consulted on provisional agreements with EBOS, Mölnlycke and REM for the supply of a selection of surgical gloves to be listed on the Pharmaceutical Schedule. The decision to approve these national agreements means that DHB hospitals may purchase these products at the new pricing from 1 April 2017.

There are estimated savings to DHBs that currently use these products of approximately $400,000 per annum nationally, based on current usage.

The agreements are not exclusive. DHBs can continue to purchase other brands of surgical gloves at their discretion. This decision means that most of the surgical gloves currently purchased by the DHB hospitals will be listed on the Pharmaceutical Schedule.

The list of products will be available on PHARMAC’s website at in both a PDF document and a series of Excel spreadsheets as of 1 April 2017.

Educational services will be provided by EBOS, Mölnlycke and REM to DHB personnel on appropriate use of their surgical gloves and this will be arranged in formats and times as agreed with individual DHBs.

Feedback received

PHARMAC appreciates all of the feedback that it has received and acknowledges the time people took to respond. All consultation responses received by 10 March 2017 were considered in their entirety in making a decision on the proposed changes. The following issues were raised in relation to specific aspects of the proposal:

Theme

Comment

Feedback noted that listings should include powder-free gloves and latex-free surgical gloves, and gloves should meet appropriate standards.

Listings include ranges of latex and latex-free surgical gloves and powdered and powder-free surgical gloves.

While no standards are mandated for surgical gloves, suitability is reflected by the current usage by DHB hospitals.

More information

If you have any questions about this decision you can email PHARMAC at enquiry@pharmac.govt.nz or call our toll free number (9 am to 5 pm, Monday to Friday) on 0800 66 00 50.