Better NHS productivity ‘could lead to substantial savings’

A new report has highlighted ways in which better productivity and efficiency could result in significant cost savings for the NHS.

Led by Lord Carter, the study involved 22 leading hospitals and indicated that the NHS could save up to five billion pounds a year by 2020 by making better use of staff, using medicines more effectively and getting better value from procurement.

One hospital was revealed to be able to save up to 750,000 pounds a year by improving the way it dealt with staff rosters, annual leave, sickness and flexible working, while there was substantial variety in the number of facilities consistently paying the best price for medicines and supplies.

It was recommended that the number of product lines of everyday consumables that the NHS uses should be reduced from more than 500,000 to less than 10,000.

Lord Carter will follow this report by identifying what an efficient model hospital looks like and producing a measure of efficiency called the adjusted treatment index.

Health secretary Jeremy Hunt said: "The NHS has huge purchasing power as the world's single biggest buyer of healthcare products, so we should be driving for the best-value deals every time."