What Does it Take to Improve NHS Productivity?

Why does productivity vary so widely between NHS organisations? Can new technologies like AI and remote monitoring help the health service seize the opportunity to redesign care for the long term?

This episode of Productivity Puzzles explores the critical challenges and opportunities facing the UK’s health service, with a discussion centring on the NHS Productivity Commission’s major new report, From Diagnosis to Delivery: A Framework for Accelerating NHS Productivity Growth.

Host Professor Bart van Ark is joined by:

• Anita Charlesworth, Senior Economic Adviser at the Health Foundation and co-chair of the NHS Productivity Commission.
• Tera Allas, Honorary Professor at Alliance Manchester Business School and co-chair of the NHS Productivity Commission.
• Mark Britnell, Professor at the Global Business School for Health at University College London and Chair of Health Innovation Manchester.

For more information on the topic:

• Tera Allas, Anita Charlesworth, Hannah Chhoa-Howard, Katie Fozzard, Alison Moulds and Stephen Rocks (2025) From Diagnosis to Delivery: A Framework for Accelerating NHS Productivity Growth, The Health Foundation.
• Mark Britnell (2019) Human: Solving the global workforce crisis in healthcare, Oxford Academic.
• Joel Hoskins and Bart van Ark (2025) Productivity and Responsible AI in Adult Social Care, The Productivity Institute.
• World Economic Forum (2016) Misaligned Stakeholders and Health System Underperformance, World Economic Forum White Paper.

About Productivity Puzzles:

Productivity Puzzles is brought to you by The Productivity Institute, a research body involving nine academic institutions across the UK, nine Productivity Forums throughout the nation, and a national independent Productivity Commission to advise policy makers at all levels of government. It is funded by the Economic and Social Research Council.