Extra NHS cash fails to boost care

NHS spending is to double in the next few years

The NHS is failing to use billions of pounds of additional government cash effectively, an official report suggests.

Figures from the Office for National Statistics show that productivity in the health service fell sharply between 1995 and 2000.

This was despite record spending by the government which saw the NHS budget rise by £10bn over this period.

They are trying to measure productivity and they haven't found a way to do it yet

Department of Health spokesman

However, the government has criticised the findings saying the figures are out of date and don't take account of the reforms introduced as part of the NHS Plan since 2000.

The report found the extra money was not delivering improvements on the ground and raises doubts over whether the extra billions promised by the government over the next few years will make a difference.

According to the ONS report, NHS spending increased by 25% over the five-year period. However, services to patients only increased by 15% during this time.

Loss of staff

The report indicates that a loss of staff may to blame for this poor performance.

The amount of money being spent by the health service on staff dropped by one third between 1995 and 2000, suggesting that thousands of key workers took jobs elsewhere.

But overall the findings suggest that the NHS is getting less for its money than it used to.

It concluded that the impact of the extra money being spent by the government on the health service "had still to feed through to output".

The figures are published in a report called Economic Trends. It is the first time the ONS has tried to assess the impact of government spending on productivity in public services.

Ministers have insisted that the extra money being spent on the health service will result in visible improvements on the ground.

The government is committed to doubling NHS spending to £105bn by 2007.

A spokesman for the Department of Health said the conclusions were "premature".

He told BBC News Online: "They are trying to measure productivity and they haven't found a way to do it yet."

The spokesman said the extra money had delivered improvements.

We need to spend more on the NHS, but we also need to get the best results from what we spend

Shadow Chancellor Michael Howard

"We produced a report at the end of the last financial year showing where the extra money has been spent and showing that the resources put in were already delivering results."

He added that a Department of Health document published after this year's Budget spelled out how the extra money was to be spent.

Preliminary results

A spokesman for the ONS agreed that the figures were preliminary ones saying they were part of a "work in progress".

But the Conservatives branded the findings as worrying.

Shadow Chancellor Michael Howard said: "Everyone agrees that we need to spend more on the NHS, but we also need to get the best results from what we spend.

"Worryingly, the ONS make it clear that the extra money spent on healthcare has not been matched by the sort of improvements in outcomes that we would all have wanted to see."

The preliminary data also shows that productivity has fallen in the fire service but has remained stable in the education sector and for policing.