Kings Fund 7 July 2015
- This report argues that, rather than looking at efficiency and costs, the NHS should be focusing on getting better value from its budget.
- The report looks at trends in NHS productivity in three areas – generic prescribing, length of stay and day case surgery – in which the NHS has made significant and sustained gains in productivity over a number of years, allowing more (and often better) care to be delivered within the same budget. It then outlines a number of areas where the NHS has opportunities to improve value in the future, focusing in particular on changes in clinical practice.
- The opportunities identified are:
- tackling inappropriate care – overuse, underuse and misuse
- identifying and removing unwarranted variations in clinical practice
- using evidence of to find better ways of delivering care and support services for specific patient groups – such as people with long-term conditions, older people living with frailty and complex needs and people at the end of their lives.
