NEWS: Disparity in NHS treatment highlighted

As reported by NHE, a report from the Medical Technology Group unveils stark discrepancies in NHS treatment quality, urging for standardised practices and better sharing of best practices

Following analysis of NHS England monthly referral to treatment data between December 2021 and November 2023, researchers found that Wakefield treated the most patients, in relation to the size of its population. Its neighbouring equivalent in Leeds, however, ranked as one of the lowest.

Within the catchment area for Humber and North Yorkshire Integrated Care Board (ICB), the third best sub-ICB location, North East Lincolnshire, sits alongside the 98th best, Vale of York. This is all despite them falling under the same ICB management. Sub-ICB locations were previously known as Clinical Commissioning Groups.

Barbara Harpham, MTG’s chair, said: “Good practice is abundant across the NHS in England, whether nationally-led or driven within local NHS organisations.

“However, it is clear that it is often isolated and not regularly shared with those parts of the NHS where it can make an enormous difference in working through the backlog, improving the quality of care and easing pressure on the workforce.”

The report stresses that more patients are being seen overall – 6.1 million patient pathways were completed from December 2021 to November 2023, which is a 46.8% improvement from MTG’s last report that investigated local and regional NHS variance.

MTG says that freedom of information requests have revealed that limited sharing of best practice between, and within, ICBs means leaders’ ability to manage and cut waiting lists has been limited.

The following recommendations have been set out to help NHS England (NHSE) and the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) drive best practice sharing:

• NHSE
  • Analyse the areas with persistent variation and provide the requisite support
  • Identify best practice examples to share with struggling regions
  • Establish forums for ICBs to discuss and share best practice
  • Work with DHSC and the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence to standardise the pathway for medical technologies to access the NHS
• ICBs
  • Analyse poor performing areas and set up the appropriate interventions, resources and standards
  • Ensure patients have equitable access to the most appropriate medical technologies, regardless of where they live
  • Seek out support from national bodies and other ICBs to implement best practice

Barbara added: “Our recommendations in this report set out a roadmap for the NHS to deliver improvements by replicating, adapting, and adopting this best practice, providing the support to ensure medical technologies and innovations are available for every patient in the NHS regardless of where they live.”