MS, Cabinet Secretary for
Health and Social Care: On 2 February, NHS Performance and
Improvement launched the first stage of the total factor
productivity model. This responds to a recommendation made by the
Ministerial Advisory Group on NHS Performance and Productivity to
develop a holistic measure of system productivity and is the
result of focused work by the Welsh Government, NHS Performance
and Improvement and NHS organisations.
The model, developed as management information for the NHS,
identifies productivity growth trends from 2019-20 to 2024-25 at
an all-Wales and health board level. This allows users to explore
the underlying drivers of productivity by drilling down into
inputs (expenditure) and outputs (secondary care activity).
The immediate focus is to use the model to support improvements
in secondary care productivity. The aim is to further develop the
model to reflect quality and, ultimately, to measure system-wide
productivity, including primary and community care.
It is one of a range of measures to support the NHS to improve
productivity, efficiency, and how it uses its resources. Other
measures include:
- The continued development of the Value, Allocation,
Utilisation and Learning Toolkit – known as the VAULT. This is an
intelligence repository, which is designed to provide insight
into the opportunities to improve the use of resources.
- A focus on delivering a key set of enabling actions on the
basis of “adopt or justify”. Several of the enabling actions
relate to activity, which must be deprioritised and stopped where
there is evidence of waste, harm or variation resulting in no (or
low) clinical value or effectiveness.
- Making changes to how services are provided to increase
productivity, efficiency, and reduce variation. These enablers
are set out in the national planned care guidance and are in
addition to the £120m to reduce long waiting times and the
overall waiting list.
I expect all NHS organisations to use this intelligence and
opportunities to develop clear plans showing how their actions
will deliver productivity gains in 2026-27, as set out in the NHS
Wales Planning Framework.
