Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government how they calculate NHS productivity; and whether, in each year since 2009, it has increased.

The Government uses the Office for National Statistics’ measure of Quality-Adjusted Total Factor Productivity growth, which reviews how the level of quality adjusted outputs produced per input has changed compared to the previous year. Quality-adjusted output is measured through cost-weighted activity, where more intensive treatments are attributed more weight than lower intensive treatments. This is then quality adjusted where increased life expectancy, shorter waiting times, improved survival rates and patient reported outcomes all increase output. Inputs include both labour and non-labour inputs, where labour inputs are weighted by expected skill level.

The following table shows whether English healthcare productivity increased in each year since 2009/10.

The productivity measure usually reports 21 months following the end of the financial year. We expect data for 2020/21 to be published in January 2023.