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Rebecca Ryder 💙@rebecca_ryder21 · Mar 13, 2026

NHS hospital: I noticed the clock on the wall showed the wrong time. A nurse told me they knew, but they wouldn’t…

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Summary

A thread exposing how NHS procurement practices result in massive markups on basic items—a £2 battery costs £70, a £10 HDMI cable costs £1,000 in military contracts—enriching private contractors while public services struggle with underfunding.

Summarized by ThreadOut AI from the full thread. May miss nuance — read the thread below.

  1. #1

    NHS hospital: I noticed the clock on the wall showed the wrong time. A nurse told me they knew, but they wouldn’t report it because replacing the battery through the NHS would cost £70. A £2 battery... £70. How? Why? That's when I began to dig further. 🧵

  2. #2

    It’s no secret private companies sell things to the NHS, but the scale of the money being made from the most basic items is unbelievable. Not just the NHS either, but almost every public service. The police, civil service, social services etc etc...

  3. #3

    Workers in the NHS kept telling me the same thing. Basic items cost far more than they should. "Well, medical stuff is important.” Sure, some of it is. But it doesn't cost £70 for a battery. £45 for a no‑brand computer mouse. Office supplied shouldn't cost 4x the normal price.

  4. #4

    None of that is “medical grade”.It’s just overpriced because someone can get away with it. Most people have no idea what's going on and how it drains the life blood out of our services.

  5. #5

    And it’s not just healthcare. Friends who’ve served in the military tell me that a standard HDMI cable - the exact same one Currys sell for £10 gets sold to our military for a £1,000.

  6. #6

    A thousand pounds for a cable In a country where people are choosing between heating and eating. What an insult. What a disgrace.

  7. #7

    The rich get richer from all this. They always do. They own the companies that get the contracts, set the prices, and walk away with the profits. Every inflated invoice is money that should’ve gone to care. To staff. To patients. To the people who actually need the service.

  8. #8

    Part of the reason our public services are failing because too many parts of them have quietly been handed over to people who see it as a free cash machine. It’s happening right now in plain sight. Most people don’t even realise.

  9. #9

    @threadreaderapp unroll

  10. #10

    Would love to hear more on this from those who work closely with or for the NHS + other public services. I don't work for the NHS, but in a care home, so this is just what I have experienced/heard. Thanks for your comments.