There is a number buried in NHS trust annual reports that every healthcare technology supplier should know and it is not a clinical outcome or a waiting list figure. It is the percentage of trade invoices a trust pays on time. The Better Payment Practice Code asks NHS trusts to pay 95 per cent of their suppliers within 30 days. Across the NHS, the share of trade invoices settled on time has fallen from over 90 per cent in 2023/24 to under 88 per cent in 2025/26. That is a dro