As we recently cautiously welcomed, the Budget announced £3.4bn of additional capital funding in health technology in return for ambitious productivity improvements. According to government estimates, greater use of data, upgrading IT and digitising patient access will unlock £35bn in productivity savings from 2025/26 to 2029/30. 

This call for heightened productivity comes after NHS efficiency became a political priority, as highlighted by Siva Anandaciva of The King’s Fund in February. Despite record funding, productivity is falling across the NHS. We saw the political response when Jeremy Hunt delivered his Budget a few weeks later. 

Delivering productivity gains is relatively challenging with healthcare IT. Was it the new processes, the different rotas, or the tech that saved 1000 person hours by year three? As the LSE’s Centre for Economic Performance notes, the impact of health technology can vary and take time to emerge. Digital doctor Bob Wachter held similar views.

Address zero budget visibility with productivity impact.

Nevertheless, highlighting productivity gains is a sensible way forward for healthtech suppliers, not just because the HM Treasury will be prioritising proposals that deliver annual savings equivalent to the total investment cost within five years. 

Many suppliers report zero budget visibility with their NHS customers for the months ahead. Any future investment in health tech will likely be judged by its ability to pay for itself in a short timeframe, whatever the Treasury says. It will be a familiar tale to anyone who has been involved in NHS procurement. 

While budget visibility may evolve in the coming weeks, there will always be an argument for showcasing the potential productivity improvements associated with your product or service. With new productivity metrics expected from NHS England shortly, the impetus to demonstrate efficacy will only intensify.

Top tips for demonstrating how you tackle productivity and waste

How can suppliers demonstrate their impact? Using the right terminology can help. Siva Anandaciva makes an excellent argument for the need to rebrand the uninspiring term ‘productivity’ with the more visceral phrase ‘waste’; we would heartily agree. 

Show how your technology removes the time wasted by under-pressure staff. How do you remove waste and inefficiency to help tackle the elective backlog, as client 4ways is doing with its innovative teleradiology service? How many travel hours and carbon emissions are saved by patients’ ability to engage virtually? 

Another option is to demonstrate the speed of impact. What legacy tech can your system replace, and how soon? What processes can be rapidly removed or changed to make them more efficient? 

Don’t forget that IT teams are under huge pressure to keep clinical services running. How can you help them keep the lights on? How do you optimise existing investments and achieve goals such as data sharing with advances in integration and interoperability, as our client Optimus IT Infra has done in London.

Tell a great story

Quantitative data is highly prized but can be challenging to obtain, so using qualitative data can be equally persuasive. Capture and share testimonials from senior figures. Record and promote short customer videos. Work up a few brief case studies that catch the eye. 

Capturing such data requires engagement with customers and account leads. By following up after an implementation, you can understand the impact your technology has had. Such a conversation could also provide upsell and product development opportunities.

Engagement can identify a good story that highlights how you are removing waste and promoting efficiency. Market that message extensively. 

Do what you can – we may be in for a bumpy ride

Despite the focus on productivity at a political level, the headwinds are uncertain. However, work done now to show you help the NHS workforce provide a more efficient service will serve suppliers well. 

By engaging with customers and unearthing the value their technology brings to the NHS, suppliers can not only navigate the current challenges but also play a pivotal role in driving productivity and efficiency within the healthcare sector for the precarious months and years ahead.