A report published today entitled, Estimating Health and Productivity Gains in England from Selected Interventions, presents a new approach to estimate and compare the impacts of selected interventions on NHS productivity. Unlike previous value for money studies, this report offers a new population-based model that could be applied across different disease groups. It has the potential to predict where the biggest impacts on the UK population’s health and NHS productivity can be made.
Lead researcher, Gwyn Bevan, Professor of Management Science at the London School of Economics and Political Science, said; ”The extent to which the NHS has delivered value for money from the massive increases in spending since 2001 will be a key issue in the run up to the next British general election. Our report builds on emerging new approaches for measuring the impact of health policy interventions and emphasises the importance of the Atkinson principle, which factors in improvements in quality.
"Until 2005, the government could rightly assert that the old way of measuring NHS productivity, in terms of cost-weighted activity, was irrelevant to assessing NHS performance as it failed to account for the impact of government policies on improvements in quality. It is prudent for ministers, officials and those who work in the NHS, to understand how a policy is likely to perform. Our report is the first attempt to show how that can be done.”
The researchers used three disease models to estimate the ‘avoidable’ burden of disease and the expected gains in productivity from selected interventions in diabetes care, coronary heart disease and mental health. They found all three interventions are beneficial for patients but conclude that only statin prescribing has the potential to make a significant impact on the future productivity of the NHS.