A national NHS uniform will see nurses wear ‘hospital blue’ and pharmacists ‘bottle green’.
Twenty-seven different colored scrubs will be rolled out in England to represent different roles, including midwives, matrons and students.
Officials hope standardized uniforms will allow patients and visitors to easily identify staff in “overwhelming” hospital environments.
Bosses also believe it could save taxpayers millions if all hospital trusts joined the voluntary plan to run everything through one supplier. Currently, each trust can have its own style and color.
Physiotherapists, dieticians, podiatrists and osteopaths are among the 600,000 employees who receive their own unique scrubs.
Twenty-seven different colored scrubs will be rolled out in England to represent different roles, including midwives, matrons and students. Officials hope standardized uniforms will allow patients and visitors to easily identify staff in ‘overwhelming’ hospital environments
However, doctors and surgeons are not covered.
Healthcare workers in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have had standardized uniforms for years, making England the outlier.
Across the country, employees wear different colors, styles, fabrics and brands.
Estimates suggest this costs the health service around £23 million annually.
Instead, the standardized approach to uniforms will save almost £7 million – or 30 per cent of current spend, claims NHS Supply Chain.
Colors chosen include “cloud blue with a contrasting navy blue border” for students, “lilac with a contrasting navy blue border” for healthcare assistants or support staff and “sherwood green with a contrasting navy blue border” for pharmacy technicians.
Physiotherapists are expected to wear a white uniform with navy blue trim, while podiatrists can expect to wear ‘ruby red’ scrubs with a ‘royal blue contrasting trim’.
Meanwhile, dietitians will wear a ruby red uniform with a ‘hospital blue contrast border’ and diagnostic radiographers, ruby red with an ‘eau-de-nil contrast border’.
The chosen base colors and contrasting finish for the smart scrub top will ‘clearly identify each profession’, according to NHS Supply Chain.
The exact design of the uniform will be revealed later this fall, but the results of the initial consultation suggest one the two-piece ‘smart scrub tunic’ will be the final design.
Information released by the organization also suggests that the smart scrub and dress will have two hip pockets and one chest pocket, while pants and shorts will have two cargo-style pockets.
The healthcare industry has also ditched traditional sizing for a non-gender specific system, using sizes U1, U2, U3, for example.
The organization said the decision was made to “enable all individuals to choose uniforms that reflect their identity.”
The “inclusive strategy” “also strengthens our workforce and resonates with the communities we serve,” it was claimed.
In a statement announcing the 27 colours, NHS Supply Chain said: ‘The carefully curated colourways have been chosen for their ability to resonate nationally and create a cohesive and recognizable system across the NHS.
‘The chosen basic colors and contrasting piping for the smart scrub top will clearly identify each professional group.’
NHS Supply Chain uniform purchasing leader Kevin Chidlow said: “I would like to thank everyone who has worked with us for your enthusiasm and patience.
‘Together we are building a shared identity that we can all be proud of.’
The organization selected a supplier to make the garments earlier this year in January and expects the scrubs to be available to healthcare professionals from early 2024.
But the implementation of the uniform will not be mandatory and will instead be a matter of local policy, NHS Supply Chain confirmed in 2021, after professional health bodies including the Chartered Society of Physiotherapy claimed that a uniform could damage patient relations or safety could influence.
The scrubs could compromise the therapeutic relationship in community or pediatric settings, they warned.
NHS Scotland and NHS Wales introduced a national standardized uniform in 2010 and NHS Northern Ireland followed suit in 2011.