The Royal College of Pathologists has responded to The Health Foundation’s NHS Productivity Commission call for evidence, highlighting pathology’s central role in patient care and proposing four practical reforms to unlock efficiency and resilience.
The NHS Productivity Commission is seeking to provide evidence and solutions to boost NHS productivity over the next decade. The Commission will do this by drawing on experience and insights from the NHS, the wider economy and health systems in other countries – it is currently inviting responses to a call for evidence to understand how NHS productivity could be improved.
The Commission defines ‘NHS productivity’ as the health value created for every pound invested in the health service. This is partly about using resources efficiently; but it also recognises value is about more than just activity – it’s about improving outcomes, such as health, wellbeing and patient experience.
The Commission’s work is organised around four ‘drivers’ of productivity:
- Workforce: the people who support care delivery
- Capital: the buildings, equipment and digital infrastructure
- Technology and innovation: the adoption, implementation and spread of technologies
- Transformation: the things that enable the system to work more efficiently, including leadership and management, coordination and governance.
As part of its submission to the commission, RCPath has highlighted that modernising pathology services through digital innovation, workforce planning, and better system design is critical to improving productivity and patient outcomes.
The four reforms proposed by the College are:
- National digital pathology strategy with central funding: evidence shows capital investment in IT infrastructure - such as scanners – as well as investment in workforce capacity to upskill in using digital pathology can lead to significant efficiency gains via remote reporting, faster diagnoses and equitable access. A national strategy is needed with central investment that allows for local adoption to best meet patient needs.
- Interoperability of Laboratory Information Management Systems (LIMS): upgrading of LIMS to help eliminate delays, duplication and data silos is essential for integration with electronic patient records and prescribing platforms to improve continuity of care and enable innovation.
- Diagnostic stewardship: embedding pathologist-led oversight will help ensure clinically justified testing, reduce low value requests and manage risks associated with direct-to-consumer testing. Integrating stewardship into digital systems will assist in managing demand and support antimicrobial resistance strategies.
- Dedicated workforce planning for pathology: fragmented data and lack of visibility of the critical relevance of pathology specialties to future health care plans has led to underinvestment – threatening service resilience. National evidence-based workforce planning that aligns staffing with demand is essential to reduce bottlenecks and improve productivity.
Without investment in pathology digital infrastructure and innovation, interoperability, stewardship, and workforce planning, the NHS risks continued bottlenecks, delays, and inefficiencies. These reforms offer a real opportunity for faster diagnoses, better patient outcomes and long-term cost savings.
RCPath’s full response can be read at this link: https://www.rcpath.org/resourceLibrary/rcpath-response-to-the-nhs-productivity-commission-consultation-pdf.html