Measuring NHS productivity

The October 2004 report from the UK Office for National Statistics (ONS) invites potentially harmful misunderstandings.1 The report concludes that NHS productivity declined by 3-8% (depending on the method of calculation) between 1995 and 2003. “Production of what?” is the key question here. If we ask the wrong question the answer may lead us to the wrong policy conclusion. PMC ID: PMC557130 (April 30, 2005)