NHS efficiency still lags behind pre-Covid levels, new analysis reveals
A new report from the NHS has revealed that, despite recent improvements, productivity remains below pre-pandemic levels
The Covid-19 pandemic has left deep holes in the productivity of the NHS, with new analysis showing that despite recent improvements, efficiency across the NHS remains below pre-pandemic levels.
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A recent report by the Health Foundation warns that waste and inefficiency since 2020 have cost the NHS an annual loss of £20 billion.
It found that if pre-pandemic trends had continued, the health service in England would have been 14 per cent more productive in 2022-23, enough to fund millions more outpatient appointments or tens of thousands of additional major operations.
The findings come as new data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) revealed productivity in 2024 remained 7.8 per cent below 2019 levels, though NHS England figures show acute hospitals achieved a 2.4 per cent rise between April and July this year.
Anita Charlesworth, co-chair of the Foundation’s NHS Productivity Commission, said: “Not only is it £20 billion of lost value for the health service, but the NHS is 10 per cent of our economy.
“Over the parliament as a whole, the NHS’s ability to deliver productivity gains will be one of the decisive factors in whether or not the government can balance the books.”
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The report blamed outdated equipment, poor infrastructure and slow adoption of technology for holding back recovery.
Charlesworth added: “The NHS has spent way too little on capital investment for decades. It’s got outdated kit, and it’s not got enough kit."
Health Secretary Wes Streeting has announced radical reform, including the abolition of NHS England and thousands of job cuts, but momentum has stalled amid disputes over £1.3 billion in redundancy costs.
Charlesworth warned that the restructuring had “destabilised” leadership teams and diverted attention from improving services.
She said: “[The government] have launched an enormously destabilising restructuring, which they haven’t got the redundancy funding for.
“The leadership and management to actually see through the transformative change is, at the moment, consumed with restructuring.”
Yet, Streeting insisted the NHS was “turning a corner,” citing “crack teams of top clinicians,” weekend services and a sharp cut in agency spending.
The Department of Health and Social Care described last year's 2.7 per cent growth in productivity as “way above target" and “a clear sign our NHS is returning to health".
A new Medium Term Planning Framework sets a target of 2 per cent productivity growth a year to 2028–29 - a target officials say is essential to restore pre-Covid performance and deliver long-term sustainability.