NHS Employers call for increased productivity from NHS workers

Improving the productivity of healthcare workers is akin to tackling climate change, according to NHS Employers director Steve Barnett.

With both issues, he said, everyone agrees something needs to be done, but the challenge was actually doing it.

HR professionals at the NHS Employers conference in London yesterday on 13 March were told that staff numbers would not rise in the health service but productivity must increase.

“The only way to meet the challenges is by releasing productive time from existing employees,” said Barnett.

“Like with climate change, to increase workforce productivity we must have people signed up. We all need to move now, and we need to bring our people with us.”