Does the NHS have a productivity problem?

Health service productivity matters for the whole economy. Healthcare spending, both governmental and non-governmental, consumed 11.3% of gross domestic product in 2022, compared with 6.8% in 1997.1 NHS effectiveness has a big impact on the overall productivity of public services, perceptions of value for money for taxpayers, and the ability of the NHS to help people to be fit for work.In evidence to the health select committee in November, NHS England chief executive Amanda Prichard dismissed current productivity measures as “a fairly blunt tool” and said there was a “misunderstanding” about NHS productivity, because the figures do not fully reflect activity such as critical care, diagnostics, community services, and virtual wards, or quality improvements such as the recent £165m investment in maternity staffing.2Healthcare data scientist Steve Black describes the idea that there is not a significant problem as “absolutely ludicrous, given the past three or four years of NHS history.”…
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