We also should value efficiency as much as effectiveness in the health service, with operating rooms used to capacity, detailed financial breakdowns sent to clinicians and patients contacted via mobile phone
My work – paediatric cardiac surgery – is expensive, specialised, labour-intensive and complex, but in the UK we produce great results. Austerity has put the NHS under immense financial pressure. Despite a promised £8bn, the NHS still has to find £22bn of “efficiencies”. We are forced to reduce costs, but want to maintain high quality.
Working out per patient costs for any particular procedure is notoriously difficult, but we know that there is wide international variation, for apparently similar outcomes. A colleague in Bangalore, India, Devi Shetty, once asked why we were spending $50,000 (£32,672) on a case that he could do for less than $3,000. This question goes to the central issue for the NHS – how can we do what we do for less?
We could use assets more effectively. Most operating rooms are idle in the evenings and weekends, as are MRI machines.
Continue reading...
No comments:
Post a Comment