Healthcare efficiency
How financial pressures are driving innovation
A webinar series has looked at how bold thinking, patient focus, and data-driven insights are reshaping the future of the NHS. An expert panel of healthcare leaders came together to outline a blueprint for a more agile, efficient and patient-focused NHS.
The sixth installment of the Strasys influential “Thinking Differently” webinar series, titled “There is no money, now what?”, brought together some of the UK’s most respected voices in health policy, clinical practice and innovation. With the arrival of the NHS 10-Year Health Plan, the session tackled an urgent question: how do we release trapped value and deliver better care when there is no new money? Below are some of the key insights from the expert panel, offering a blueprint for a more agile, efficient and patient-focused NHS.
A system without a silver bullet Sally Gainsbury, Senior Policy Analyst, Nuffield Trust, a former investigative journalist and NHS commentator, opened the session by dismantling the idea that money alone can fix the NHS. She pointed to a £37bn funding gap when compared with historic trends and explained how inflation and rising demand are swallowing resources*. “Technology doesn’t save money in healthcare
— it often increases cost,” she noted. The same goes for shifting care from hospitals to the community. Output in these sectors is harder to measure, making it difficult to direct funding effectively. She warned that targets like the Mental Health Investment Standard have had unintended consequences — notably an increased reliance on temporary staffing. Importantly, she urged the system to think in terms of need and equity: “When looking at how resources are allocated
to former CCG areas, there are no CCGs that are both in the most deprived and oldest decile due to lower life expectancy. That should tell us everything.”
A surgeon’s view: too many inefficiencies Professor Nizam Mamode, a Transplant and Humanitarian Surgeon, shared a powerful perspective drawn from four decades in the NHS. He acknowledged improvements - shorter
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stays, better training and hygiene, evidence- based treatments - but emphasised persistent inefficiencies. He cited examples from a single week:
l A patient admitted to hospital an extra day due to a faulty cannula.
l Another waited a week for an angiogram at another hospital.
l A woman couldn’t be discharged due to lack of social care support at home.
l 20 theatre staff call in sick, forcing a two- hour pause with no contingency plan in place.
“If you ask a surgeon whether they’d like to operate more, they’ll always say yes — but we’re blocked by inefficiencies.” He critiqued the workforce plan, noting it doesn’t factor in data on how many doctors are likely to retire over the next 10 years or what the demand for a particular specialty is. In addition, he stressed the need for proper data, particularly around theatre utilisation, and empowering clinical leaders with budgets and decision-making authority.
Leadership in crisis: Alder Hey’s compassionate model Dame Jo Williams, Chair, Alder Hey Children’s NHS Foundation Trust, made a compelling case for visionary leadership grounded in compassion
and courage. She described how Alder Hey created its 2030 Vision by listening to the voices of children and families, rather than defaulting to top-down strategies. “Children and young people are absolutely at the heart of everything we do. Their voice really matters.” Four patient personas emerged from this consultation: 1. Get me well quickly – children seeking fast return to normal life.
2. Complex needs – requiring personalised, connected care.
3. Health inequity – those in deprived communities needing systemic support.
4. Optimistic visionaries – pushing for big scientific breakthroughs.
This data-led, values-driven approach has already delivered success. A respiratory programme training mothers to support other mums has reduced emergency department attendances. She added, “I think when things are tough, as
the environment is now, there’s a temptation to focus on the money and structural change. But for us, the priority is transformation.” What makes this work? Dame Jo pointed to:
l Empowerment at all levels: Everyone thinking about patient care.
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