Health care technology diffusion in the NHS and workforce impact The London School of Economics and Political Science

As new health care technologies are introduced in the NHS, there is an impact on the workforce. This project investigated this impact using two case studies, with the aim of supporting workforce planning.

The case studies focused on innovative surgical procedures. The first one was the replacement of Percutaneous Transluminal Coronary Angioplasty (PTCA) for the older Coronary Artery Bypass Graft (CABG) technology, focusing on workforce composition changes. The second was surgical interventions in prostatectomy which consider robotic, laparoscopic and open interventions; focusing on labour productivity.

Key findings

The team analysed national data such as Hospital Episode Statistics and Electronic Staff Records to measure the uptake and spread of the new procedures, the impact on staff composition and expenditure at hospital trust level, and the impact on patient outcomes.

The first case study found that the impact of the new technology on workforce is significant. However, as old technology volume decreases, surgeons shift their activity to other procedures, so surgical staff numbers do not fall. The team presented this work at the Department of Health, NHS Improvement, the Health Economics Study Group, the University of York and the London Health Economics Group.

The second case study found that robotic surgery does not come with improved health outcomes, but there may be some limited improved hospital productivity. Results suggest there is no effect on workforce composition; the workforce relating to this surgery has remained constant and increasing case volume provides improved labour and productivity gains.

The team presented the results to NHS Improvement and at the London Health Economics workshop, the Spanish Health Economics conference, the LSE and the Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona.

There have been academic journal articles published and the team continues to engage with NHS England on policy implications for workforce planning.

Contact details

For more information, contact Alistair McGuire, Chair in Health Economics at LSE.