NHS crawls into the black

A report from the UK Office for National Statistics shows National Health Service productivity rose by 0.7% in 2009 compared with a 2.7% fall from 1995 to 2009.

Any commercial enterprise is likely to have 'gone under' given this record.

So, why is the NHS finding it so hard to be more productive.

I don't know ... but I do know from my experience across a whole range of sectors that it CAN be more productive.

Will the recession-induced cuts help? Possibly. A crisis can be a useful motivator ... but it depends on whether the will is there to identify and implement real productivity changes ... especially where these are potentially politically unpopular.

We all love the NHS .. but we could surely love an efficient NHS even more!