Productivity in NHS has depressed usually given 1995

Ian King, Deputy Business Editor & , : {}

The Governments management of the NHS was called into question yesterday after official statistics revealed that the productivity of publicly funded healthcare fell by an average 0.3 per cent every year from 1995 to 2008.

Figures published by the Office for National Statistics revealed that productivity fell by a total of 3.3 per cent during the period all but two years of which Labour has been in power.

The report comes after a similarly damning survey published in June, which revealed that, between 1997 and 2007, total productivity in the public sector fell by 3.2 per cent an annual average of 0.3 per cent.

In yesterdays report, the ONS said that between 1995 and 2008 inputs the amount spent on healthcare and including costs such as energy, bedding and bandages rose by 75 per cent, or an average 4.4 per cent a year. Yet outputs the amount of healthcare provided and its quality rose by only 69 per cent, or 4.1 per cent a year.

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The ONS said that, from 1995 to 2001, productivity was broadly stable as output and inputs grew at a similar pace. But it said that from 2001 the year that Mr Brown, then the Chancellor, significantly boosted public spending to 2008, productivity declined by 3.0 per cent overall or 0.4 per cent a year on average. It said that in all of those years, apart from 2005 and 2006, inputs grew more quickly than output.

The figures include not only spending within the NHS, which dominates the data, but also healthcare purchased by the Government from outside the health service. The ONS said that the cost of employing doctors, nurses and support staff had risen by about 40 per cent, with especially high growth between 2000 and 2004.

Andrew Lansley, the Shadow Health Secretary, said: This is further evidence that the Government has failed to deliver reform and value for money in the NHS ... Too much money in the NHS has been wasted, there is too much bureaucracy and the resources have not got to the front line.