NHS Providers calls for investment in digital to ‘drive productivity’

NHS Providers has called for government investment into digital technology to improve productivity, following a survey of NHS trust leaders.

The survey results, published on 8 September 2024, found that finances had taken a series of hits – through industrial action, erosion due to inflation, efficiency demands, and operational pressure on the NHS.

Results revealed that 51% of respondents were “extremely concerned” about delivering operational priorities within their organisation’s 2024/25 financial budget.

Also, 92% of respondents felt that the scale of the efficiency challenge in 2024/25 is more challenging than 2023/24.

Almost a third of respondents (32%) were confident that their system will deliver its recovery targets to reduce waits for physical health services in 2024/25 while only 8% said they were confident about recovery targets to reduce long waits in mental health services.

Of the respondents who deliver A&E services, 46% said it is likely that their trust will meet the new target of seeing 78% of A&E attendees within four hours by March 2025.

44% of respondents forecast their trust’s financial position for 2024/25 as a deficit, 45% forecast their position as breakeven and 11% forecast their position as a surplus.

Sir Julian Hartley, chief executive of NHS Providers, said: “It’s incredibly impressive how trust leaders and their teams are responding to the productivity challenge.

“You can see the benefits of collaboration, incentivising staff, using digital tools to help them work more efficiently.

“That’s all happening but it can only go so far without significant strategic investment in infrastructure and digital technologies.

“We need to recognise the value of investment in the NHS – its impact as a catalyst for economic growth, employment and research, and the importance of funding infrastructure, digital and other technology to drive productivity.”

The survey findings come ahead of a review of the health service by NHS surgeon and independent peer Lord Ara Darzi, commissioned by health secretary Wes Streeting, which is expected to be published on 12 September 2024.

Lord Darzi’s report is expected to include criticism about the lack of productivity in the NHS and a warning about the state of children’s health.

In an interview with the BBC, broadcast on 8 September 2024, Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer referred to the upcoming review, and said the NHS had been “broken” by the previous Conservative governments.

Referencing the interview, Sir Hartley said: “The Prime Minister’s comments today echo what trust leaders have been telling us, the shockwaves of the longest and deepest squeeze in NHS financial history, a growing mismatch between capacity and demand, major workforce challenges and the after-effects of the Covid-19 pandemic are still being felt throughout the health service”.

He added: “Time and again, trust leaders tell us they want to see long-term, multi-year investment in the health service which allows them to plan for the future instead of this stop-start approach to NHS funding which leaves them constantly worrying about budget cuts followed by quick-fix, short-term funding announcements.”

A report, published by the Health Foundation in April 2024, examined clinicians’ views on which technologies offer the biggest opportunities to improve productivity in the NHS.