Cut the cost of goods and services by 20-30% by optimizing its use. Save 1,230 million pounds (1.5 billion euros) by reducing the length of hospitalizations and another 750 (0.9 billion euros) by reducing medication errors. Here are some examples of how, according to a BMJ report, public service and citizens' health can be saved.
04 AUG – Quality saves money. For a long time they were just words, but today the first estimates that quantify these savings are coming from Great Britain.
Only estimates, to be precise, but supported by a series of studies (including that of the Department for Innovation and Development of the National Health Service) summarized in a review published in the British Medical Journal (April 2011, vol. 20, n. 4) signed by Martin Marshall (The Health Foundation, London, UK) and John Øvretveit (Medical Management Centre, The Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden).
The goal is to respond to the country's economic needs ("The NHS is being asked to reduce spending by 15-20 billion over the next 4 years", explain Marshall and Øvretveit) without citizens' health at the expense. Because if the savings don't come from a better use of resources and services, they will inevitably come from cuts in services. And the consequences "will be dramatic".
Here, then, is what the English experts suggest. The interventions suggested and the savings estimated by the British studies are summarized by the BJM in the table that we publish at the bottom of the page. Four, in particular, the areas of intervention.
From the first, appropriateness of benefits, the NHS could save around £10% of what it spent in total in 2008/2009. As? Improving prevention and case management and reducing unscheduled access, enhancing integrated care and improving end-of-life care.
Strong savings can then be obtained in the field of goods and services. By optimizing their use, sharing some of them between different services and improving procurement tenders, it is estimated that an estimated saving in 20% per year of 500 million pounds per year (630 million euros) can be achieved.
Staff productivity can also improve, translating into savings. By enhancing skills, for example. But according to the British experts, better organization could also make it possible to reduce sick leave by up to 40%.
Third area of
