In February 2016, Lord Carter’s report highlighted the opportunity to save up to £5 billion by tackling unwanted variation – a potential contribution of at least 9% on the £55.6 bn he spent on NHS acute hospitals. So what action has been taken to drive this forward and deliver these savings?
A key initiative aimed at tackling variation in the NHS has been the development of the Getting It Right First Time (GIRFT) programme. In essence, “getting it right first time” is about not wasting NHS money through preventable mistakes, readmissions, unwarranted variation and litigation. In tackling variation in practice, the aim is to identify recommendations that can help improve the quality of care and outcomes for patients, as well as improve efficiency for the health service.
The programme initially started as a pilot within orthopaedic surgery, led by orthopaedic surgeon Professor Tim Briggs and hosted by the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital NHS Trust (RNOH). Following the pilot, NHS Improvement (NHSI) conducted a survey of more than 70 Trusts and found total savings of up to £30 million for 2014/15 and an estimated £20 m for 2015/16 as a result of adopting GIRFT’s recommendations. If extrapolated across the more than 140 providers, it was suggested that these savings could total almost £100 m.1
Prof Briggs was quoted as saying: “The waste and variation out there is unbelievable, and we have got to get our act together across all the specialties to improve quality and unwarranted variation and complications. And it is not just orthopaedics.
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