{"id":56391,"date":"2025-11-13T20:23:17","date_gmt":"2025-11-13T20:23:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.promedical.co.uk\/?p=56391"},"modified":"2025-11-13T20:28:06","modified_gmt":"2025-11-13T20:28:06","slug":"finance-productivity-the-new-rules-of-engagement-for-external-partners","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.promedical.co.uk\/healthcare-leadership\/finance-productivity-the-new-rules-of-engagement-for-external-partners\/","title":{"rendered":"Finance &#038; productivity: the new rules of engagement for external partners"},"content":{"rendered":"<h3><\/h3>\n<h3>Executive summary<\/h3>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>The signal:<\/strong> September 2025 Board papers confirm ICSs are under sharper scrutiny on financial variance to plan, productivity, and reliance on premium staffing.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Why this matters:<\/strong> The old model of offering volume capacity at premium cost is no longer viable. ICSs will demand proof of value, outcomes per \u00a3, productivity gains, and equity benefits.<\/li>\n<li><strong>What to do now:<\/strong> Partners must redesign offers around cost-effectiveness, outcome-linked KPIs, and bank-first models that support system savings.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3><\/h3>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3>Context &amp; system signals<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>The Financial Performance Update (Sept 2025) confirmed tighter NHSE oversight on planned surplus\/deficit, YTD variance, implied productivity, and reliance on agency or premium staffing routes.<\/li>\n<li>The NHS Oversight Framework points to a future where ICSs are measured not just on finances, but on life expectancy gaps, CV mortality, maternity outcomes, and productivity ratios.<\/li>\n<li>This reframes financial management as inseparable from outcomes and inequalities.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>Strategic implications<\/h3>\n<ol>\n<li><strong>Outcomes are the new currency:<\/strong> Partners must evidence \u00a3 per RTT week reduced, \u00a3 per LoS day avoided, or \u00a3 per DRD day cut.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Productivity is the accountability lever:<\/strong> ICSs are being judged on throughput per WTE and avoided waste, making productivity impact non-negotiable.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Equity is now financial:<\/strong> Gaps in prevention and care uptake create avoidable costs; tackling them is part of fiscal discipline.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Green compliance is a gateway:<\/strong> The 2027\/28 supplier roadmap means non-compliant suppliers risk exclusion regardless of price.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<h3>Blueprint: engaging with the new rules<\/h3>\n<ol>\n<li><strong>Redesign value cases<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>Link every proposal to at least one NHSOF metric (RTT, DRD, LoS, inequalities).<\/li>\n<li><em>Proof point: <\/em>case studies showing \u00a3 saved per outcome achieved.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Adopt bank-first flexible staffing<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>MSP\/rostering solutions to reduce agency reliance.<\/li>\n<li>Proof point: % agency shifts avoided, \u00a3 saved annually.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Provide live dashboards<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>Real-time performance and spend vs outcome reporting.<\/li>\n<li><em>Proof point: <\/em>system leaders can track savings month by month.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Evidence green compliance<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>Publish supplier net-zero pathways aligned to NHS deadlines.<\/li>\n<li>Proof point: emissions reporting by 2027, product-level by 2028.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<h3>Inequalities lens<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>Financial risk and equity risk converge: deprived communities experience higher avoidable costs through preventable admissions and late-stage conditions.<\/li>\n<li>ICSs will increasingly commission interventions that both save money and close gaps.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>Final word \u2014 Altin Biba, MBA, AMBA<\/h3>\n<p><em><strong>\u201cFinance and productivity are no longer background concerns, they\u2019re the frontline of NHS decision-making. The test for partners is simple: prove value with outcomes per pound, or risk irrelevance. At ProMedical, we are committed to demonstrating that productivity and equity can go hand in hand.\u201d<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<h3><\/h3>\n<h3>References<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>NHS England. Financial Performance Update, September 2025 (Item 4.2)<\/li>\n<li>NHS England. NHS Oversight Framework metrics list, September 2025 (Item 4.1.1)<\/li>\n<li>NHS England. Healthcare Inequalities Improvement Programme &amp; Race and Health Observatory report, September 2025 (Item 6)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Executive summary &nbsp; The signal: September 2025 Board papers confirm ICSs are under sharper scrutiny on financial variance to plan, productivity, and reliance on premium staffing. Why this matters: The old model of offering volume capacity at premium cost is no longer viable. ICSs will demand proof of value, outcomes per \u00a3, productivity gains, and&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":26,"featured_media":56413,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"none","footnotes":""},"categories":[25],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-56391","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-healthcare-leadership"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.promedical.co.uk\/af-api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56391","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.promedical.co.uk\/af-api\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.promedical.co.uk\/af-api\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.promedical.co.uk\/af-api\/wp\/v2\/users\/26"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.promedical.co.uk\/af-api\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=56391"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/www.promedical.co.uk\/af-api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56391\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":56412,"href":"https:\/\/www.promedical.co.uk\/af-api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56391\/revisions\/56412"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.promedical.co.uk\/af-api\/wp\/v2\/media\/56413"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.promedical.co.uk\/af-api\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=56391"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.promedical.co.uk\/af-api\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=56391"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.promedical.co.uk\/af-api\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=56391"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}