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NHS productivity fell to three months to September and was almost 20 percent below its pre-landmark level, raising concerns about increasing pressure on the costs of public services in the UK.
The productivity of healthcare, a measure of efficiency by which work and capital are used to provide NHS services, dropped at an annual rate of 2.4 percent in the third quarter of 2024, according to “Development” data published by the Office for National statistics on Monday.
It was estimated to be 18.5 percent under its pre-peremic peak in the last quarter of 2019, the agency said.
The figures record the first time Once has reported quarterly data on health care productivity, and highlight the challenges that the government faces as it drives to shorten the NHS reception time and improve the performance of service between public finances .
In the fall budget, Chancellor Rachel Reeves announced an increase of £ 22.6 billion in the NHS daily budget for two years and an increase of £ 3.1 billion in its capital budget.
It also established the health service and Whitehall Departments a 2 percent productivity target in 2025 “using technology more effectively and joining services throughout the government”.
While greater efficiency in public services can facilitate financial pressures, data on Monday suggest that productivity is moving in the opposite direction.
Bart Van Ark, managing director at the UK -based productivity institute, said “despite increasing spending on public sector inputs, the response to increased production has been weak over the past two years” and called on the government ” Understand how to use these resources better. ”
The overall productivity of the public service fell at an annual rate of 1.4 percent in the third quarter of 2024 and was estimated to be 8.4 percent below its Q4 2019 level before the Pandemia, said Ons.
However, agency’s productivity data are widespread with issues and are now labeled “Developing Official Statistics” due to the low rate of response to the study market study, which partially based on the figures.
Ins said that Monday’s data did not consider changes in the relative quality of these services because many of these quality factors require data that is not yet available.
Andrew Bailey, the Governor of the Bank of England, said on Thursday that he could not show to what extent the decline in measured public sector productivity was a “true phenomenon”.
At a press conference he warned to draw any “strong conclusions” about the state of public sector productivity “because there are many conventions on how these things are measured”.
However, the poor performance of the UK productivity has raised concerns among policymakers, as it reduces the capacity of the economy to produce goods and services and can maintain high inflation.
In terms of the next way of interest rates, productivity growth “matters because it is the speed limit for the economy in terms of supply,” said Clare Lombardelli, Deputy Governor of Boe, at the press conference on Thursday.
Increasing productivity was important to everyone because “it is the only way to increase true revenue in the long run,” she added.
