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NHS productivity comes under the spotlight |
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Just before Steve Barclay left the DHSC (above), The Times (£) was briefed that consultants McKinsey have been called in to review NHS productivity plans. The Times reported that NHS activity has not risen, and that trusts are not delivering planned efficiency savings, even though funding and gross staff numbers have increased. It also reported that chancellor Jeremy Hunt wants another 0.5% a year in efficiency savings to help fund a tax-giveaway ahead of the general election that must be held before the end of January 2025, and is widely expected in May next year.
NHS England chief executive Amanda Pritchard defended the NHS’ record, telling MPs that current productivity measures do not tell the whole story, because they do not capture the left shift into community services or new ideas such as virtual wards. “If you take account of all those things, the start point is an NHS that is doing far more work, [but] differently, to [what it was doing] pre-Covid,” she told the health and social care committee (HSJ, £). In the same vein, she said the ambitious productivity goals in the so-far unfunded NHS workforce plan will be contingent on government investment in estates and digital. |
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