New report launched to improve productivity measurement in healthcare

A new technical report on Measuring Productivity in Health Care has been published by NHS Arden & GEM Commissioning Support Unit (CSU). Commissioned by the Health Foundation, the report provides an in-depth examination of how productivity in the NHS is currently assessed and how it should evolve to meet the growing challenges facing the health system.

Set against a backdrop of increasing demand, constrained resources and post-pandemic recovery, the report looks at how we measure, and how we should measure productivity in such a complex system as the NHS.

Katie Fozzard, Senior Economist at the Health Foundation, said: “The government has placed significant emphasis on increasing NHS productivity – setting a stretching target for the health service to deliver 2 per cent annual productivity growth. The way productivity is measured, and whether it captures what matters most, is therefore of crucial importance. This report is a vital resource to help us understand the different ways that productivity is measured and areas for improvement.”

Drawing on a wide body of literature and engagement with stakeholders across government, academia, NHS England and local health systems, the report explores the current strengths and limitations of existing productivity metrics, also looking forward to recent developments in productivity measurement, as set out in the ONS recent Public Services Productivity Review. It highlights persistent challenges such as fragmented data, inconsistent coverage across settings, and a lack of tools to evaluate long-term investment, preventative care and workforce resilience.

Rose Taylor, Executive Director Health and Care Transformation at Arden & GEM said: “Understanding and improving NHS productivity is essential to delivering high-quality care with finite resources. This report provides a fresh lens on how we measure productivity in such a complex system, highlighting where current metrics fall short and where new approaches can drive meaningful change.”

The report highlights the breadth of reasons for measuring health care productivity and corresponding approaches. It proposes a new classification framework to better align metrics with their intended use, whether for system-level planning, local service improvement, evaluating resource allocation or national financial accountability.

Among its key areas for development, the report calls for:

• The adoption of multi-faceted measures that better reflect long-term investment, patient outcomes and workforce resilience, to strengthen how measures align with future service needs
• Greater integration of micro-level evaluative and macro-level technical approaches to bridge the gap between local insights and national decision-making
• Investment in metrics that account for the value of preventative care beyond short-term costs
• Improved tools to measure productivity across evolving care pathways and system partners, including social care and the independent sector

The Health Foundation will build on these findings in future work to support better long-term decision making across health and social care.

The full Measuring Productivity in Health Care report is available here.