Why are we talking about productivity?
Productivity in acute hospitals in England is rising, data published by the Department of Health and Social Care and NHS England on 3 November have shown.1 It grew by 2.4% in April to July 2025 compared with the same period last year, outperforming its productivity target of 2%.
What’s this “productivity” gain based on?
The government said that the latest figure was based on increasing outputs such as treatments, operations, and appointments relative to inputs such as staff. It reflects “efficiency improvements rather than simple activity counts,” using weighted adjustments according to the complexity of treatment and “strong data quality” in the acute sector.
Health secretary Wes Streeting said that the recent growth figure showed that the NHS is “making strong progress in its recovery.” He said that it had been achieved by measures such as delivering same day discharges, shorter hospital stays, less reliance on agency staff, better use of technology, and more surgical hubs and community diagnostic centres running …
