12.01.12
NHS productivity ‘needs improvement’ – Nuffield Trust
Hospitals have been told that they must improve productivity in a report by the Nuffield Trust think tank.
It highlighted several areas for possible improvements to be made, including cutting the lengths of stay, doing more day case surgery and improving the way goods are bought. Savings in back office functions such as HR and finance could be made, it said, as well as assessments of spending on staffing.
In the study, hospital performance was compared against international data, in addition to an in-depth look at how six trusts had improved performance.
Judith Smith, head of policy at the Nuffield Trust, said: “It is very difficult to justify cuts if inefficiencies in areas such as rates of day case surgery, length of stay and the purchasing of hospital supplies remain untackled.
“The financial challenge facing the NHS will concentrate minds, but much more needs to be done. Why, when so much is known about what drives and can improve efficiency, has hospital productivity deteriorated?”
David Stout, of the NHS Confederation, which represents managers, said the Nuffield Trust was “absolutely right” to flag up the need to improve productivity.
“The NHS has a lot to do if it is going to meet the financial challenge it faces and time is running out,” he said.
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