New research: Hospital mergers do not work
30 January 2012 Leave a Comment
There has been a policy of making efficiency savings for a very long time now, particularly in the NHS. As part of this we have had hospital closures and services being moved and hospital mergers arguing that this will bring improvements for patients. Recent research has been published which shows that mergers do not do what they intended to do. Something we should take into consideration when we talk about our health policy and particularly when it comes to local campaigning.
Can governments do it better? Merger mania and hospital outcomes in the English NHS examined the merged hospitals up to four years after the date from which it was agreed and looked at a large range of measures of performance, including staff activity, financial performance, waiting times and data collected by the department to assess the performance of trusts.
The researchers’ findings (reported here in the Guardian) showed that hospitals that merged recorded larger deficits after merger than before, and the length of time patients had to wait for elective treatment also rose. In addition, there were few indications of improvements in clinical quality and no increase in the productivity of staff. While hospital admissions fell by about 10% four years after hospitals merged, staff numbers fell in proportion. So for each staff member employed, there was no increase in activity.
The Lib Dems have long campaigned on the need for good quality local services and this is as good a message as ever. Large scale reorganisation does not always do what you think it will and mergers have shown that it certainly does not improve services for patients. I don’t know how many times it takes to learn what we already know. When it comes to public services, it is how the service is delivered on the ground that matters most. Good managers, with good staff, provide a good service.
