Treatment of circulatory disease in the NHS Measuring trends in hospital costs and output
October 2007
Key points
- This report is an exploratory study of the feasibility and usefulness of developing measures of growth in outputs, costs and productivity of a single programme of care within the NHS: hospital treatment of circulatory diseases.
- Measures of productivity change in the hospital treatment of circulatory disease depend highly on the measure of input growth used.
- A very tentative conclusion is that the NHS has used its physical resources more efficiently to secure annual improvements in physical productivity of up to 2% per year.
- However, because of the increased prices it has paid for its inputs, the cost-effectiveness of this programme has declined by anything up to 0.8% over the study period.
This report studies the feasibility of measuring growth in outputs, costs and productivity for hospital treatment of circulatory diseases.
The study found that changes in productivity for treatment of circulatory disease depend to a large extent on the measure of input growth used. It draws a very tentative conclusion that the NHS has used its resources efficiently to secure improvements in physical productivity of up to 2% per year. But because it has paid more for the inputs, cost-effectiveness has fallen by up to 0.8%.
Overall, the study has shown that it is feasible to develop models of productivity growth for a single programme of NHS care. The authors advocate further investigation of other programmes of care, in particular those embracing significant community and prescribing activities.
Work with us
We look for talented and passionate individuals as everyone at the Health Foundation has an important role to play.
View current vacanciesThe Q community
Q is an initiative connecting people with improvement expertise across the UK.
Find out more
