The NHS productivity puzzle: Why has hospital activity not increased in line with funding and staffing? (Institute for Government, 13 June 2023)

Summary

This report assesses why NHS hospitals are failing to deliver higher activity despite higher spending on the service and higher levels of staffing over the last couple of years.

It argues that politicians need to urgently focus on capital investment, staff retention and boosting management capacity, and sets out key questions for policy makers to address if they want to solve the NHS crisis. The NHS has been on a longer-term negative trajectory: most of the challenges identified in the report existed before the pandemic and have been exacerbated since.