NHS, productivity, output measurement, public services, quality, measures, waiting times, patients

8 September 2005 (revised 2 December)

In March 2004 the Department of Health commissioned a research team from the Centre for Health Economics at the University of York and the National Institute for Economic and Social Research to develop new approaches to measuring NHS outputs and productivity. The research objectives were development of:

A comprehensive measure of NHS outputs and productivity

Methods to facilitate regular in-year analysis of NHS productivity

Output measures capable of measuring efficiency and productivity at subnational levels.