Productivity drop off in NHS
Productivity in the NHS has failed to keep pace with the record sums of monies invested since 1997, the Office for National Statistics reported on Monday.
The ONS suggested some £6 billion a year in spending was left unimplemented through bureaucratic inefficiency.
ONS researchers concluded that productivity fell between four and eight per cent since Labour came to power.
Pound for pound, ONS said as much as eight per cent of the extra funds drawn the Treasury was wasted.
The ONS found that while monies earmarked for the NHS rose from 32 to 39 per cent over an eight-year period, service output to patients increased by just 28 per cent.
Oliver Letwin, Shadow Chancellor, leapt on the report claiming NHS productivity had “declined” under Labour.
Mr Letwin said the ONS data pointed to “health inflation, waste and inefficiency.”
“Spending on hospitals alone has risen five times as fast as the number of hospital treatments,” he said.
John Reid, Health Secretary, took a different view, saying the NHS was witnessing “massive improvements” in the quality of service, something which ONS did not pick up on.
“It’s absurd that the current measure of productivity does not cover the range of massive improvements that are being seen across the NHS,” said Dr Reid.
“The NHS has delivered real quality improvements including shorter waiting times, reductions in mortality rates and better quality consultations,” Dr Reid said.
“While the ONS productivity measure is better than previous measures, improvements are needed. It still lags behind NHS improvements.”
Meanwhile, the Public Accounts Committee today will publish its report, “Increased Resources to Improve Public Services: A Progress Report on Departments’ Preparations.”
Mr Edward Leigh MP, chairman of the committee, said: “It is vital that government departments charged with spending billions of pounds of extra taxpayer’s money, particularly in health, education and transport, make this count, resulting in real improvements in our public services.
“There are a number of key risks that must be properly managed to avoid this investment being swallowed up in extra bureaucracy, red tape and inefficiency.”
The committee found that the Departments of Health must do more to balance devolving responsibility for service delivery to the local level with preventing service improvement from being jeopardised by pockets of poor or failing performance.
The Department of Health was also urged to engage with those delivering services directly to the public to identify the reasons for unacceptable disparities in service quality.
