Technology, innovation and NHS productivity

A policy options paper for the NHS Productivity Commission

Technology and innovation offer significant opportunities for the NHS to deliver health care differently. 

Deployed effectively, digital and data-driven technologies – including artificial intelligence – will not only help alleviate current service pressures but will also boost long-term productivity growth. 

The persistent challenge has been how to translate the potential technology offers into sustained productivity gains in practice and at scale. This is not due to a lack of technology solutions. Rather, the main constraint lies in adoption, implementation and spread.

This working paper, authored independently by expert commissioners for the NHS Productivity Commission, looks at the challenges underlying the technology landscape in the NHS, the three key shifts to overcome these challenges and capitalise on the opportunities, and four key areas of recommendation to help realise these shifts.

About the Commission

The Health Foundation launched the NHS Productivity Commission to provide evidence and identify solutions that can drive productivity growth in the NHS in England over the next decade. 

This publication is one of four policy options papers each exploring a key driver of productivity: workforce, capital, technology and innovation, and transformation.

The papers have been authored independently by expert commissioners and present recommendations for action in each area. These recommendations have informed the Commission's final report, Breaking the cycle, which brings together the key findings from across the programme and sets out the wider system reforms and enabling conditions necessary to deliver lasting improvements in NHS productivity.

These papers and the report reflect the findings and conclusions of the Commission. Neither these papers nor the report necessarily reflect the views or position of the Health Foundation, or the organisations with which the co-chairs and commissioners are associated. Access the Commission’s content.