Productivity in the English NHS has grown at twice the rate of the wider economy, despite the government using supposed inefficiencies to justify ever more drastic cuts.

Improvements in survival rates and numbers of patients treated in the health service each year have vastly outpaced investment in staff and budgets, a report by the Centre for Health Economics at York University found.

Pound for pound the NHS delivered 16.5 per cent more care in 2016/17 than it did in in 2004/05. This compares to productivity growth of just 6.7 per cent for the wider economy.

Productivity rose 2.86 per cent between 2015/16 and 16/17 alone. Since 2010 it has outpaced the economy, despite the fact that its budget increases were held to just 1 per cent a year on average as part of Conservative-led government drives to increase efficiency, which have left staff working flat out.

“This is a huge tribute to the work of NHS staff, and the intrinsic efficiency of this country’s health service,” NHS England chief executive Simon Stevens said on Tuesday.

Everyone the Government blames for the NHS crisis – except themselves Show all 6 1 /6 Everyone the Government blames for the NHS crisis – except themselves Everyone the Government blames for the NHS crisis – except themselves The elderly “We acknowledge that there are pressures on the health service, there are always extra pressures on the NHS in the winter, but we have the added pressures of the ageing population and the growing complex needs of the population,” Theresa May has said. Waits of over 12 hours in A&E among elderly people have more than doubled in two years, according to figures from NHS Digital. Getty Everyone the Government blames for the NHS crisis – except themselves Patients going to A&E instead of seeing their GPs Jeremy Hunt has called for a “honest discussion with the public about the purpose of A&E departments”, saying that around a third of A&E patients were in hospital unnecessarily. Mr Hunt told Radio 4’s Today programme the NHS now had more doctors, nurses and funding than ever, but explained what he called “very serious problems at some hospitals” by suggesting pressures were increasing in part because people are going to A&Es when they should not. He urged patients to visit their GP for non-emergency illnesses, outlined plans to release time for family doctors to support urgent care work, and said the NHS will soon be able to deliver seven-day access to a GP from 8am to 8pm. But doctors struggling amid a GP recruitment crisis said Mr Hunt’s plans were unrealistic and demanded the Government commit to investing in all areas of the overstretched health service. Getty Everyone the Government blames for the NHS crisis – except themselves Simon Stevens, head of NHS England Reports that “key members” of Ms May’s team used internal meetings to accuse Simon Stevens, head of NHS England, of being unenthusiastic and unresponsive have been rejected by Downing Street. Mr Stevens had allegedly rejected claims made by Ms May that the NHS had been given more funding than required. Getty Everyone the Government blames for the NHS crisis – except themselves Previous health policy, not funding In an interview with Sky News’s Sophy Ridge, Ms May acknowledged the NHS faced pressures but said it was a problem that had been “ducked by government over the years”. She refuted the claim that hospitals were tackling a “humanitarian crisis” and said health funding was at record levels. “We asked the NHS a while back to set out what it needed over the next five years in terms of its plan for the future and the funding that it would need,” said the Prime Minister. “They did that, we gave them that funding, in fact we gave them more funding than they required… Funding is now at record levels for the NHS, more money has been going in.” But doctors accused Ms May of being “in denial” about how the lack of additional funding provided for health and social care were behind a spiralling crisis in NHS hospitals. Getty Images Everyone the Government blames for the NHS crisis – except themselves Target to treat all A&E patients within four hours Mr Hunt was accused of watering down the flagship target to treat all A&E patients within four hours. The Health Secretary told MPs the promise – introduced by Tony Blair’s government in 2000 – should only be for “those who actually need it”. Amid jeers in the Commons, Mr Hunt said only four other countries pledged to treat all patients within a similar timeframe and all had “less stringent” rules. But Ms May has now said the Government will stand by the four-hour target for A&E, which says 95 per cent of patients must be dealt with within that time frame. Getty Images Everyone the Government blames for the NHS crisis – except themselves No one Mr Hunt was accused of “hiding” from the public eye following news of the Red Cross’s comments and didn’t make an official statement for two days. He was also filmed refusing to answer questions from journalists who pursued him down the street yesterday to ask whether he planned to scrap the four-hour A&E waiting time target. Sky News reporter Beth Rigby pressed the Health Secretary on his position on the matter, saying “the public will want to know, Mr Hunt”. “Sorry Beth, I’ve answered questions about this already,” replied Mr Hunt. “But you didn’t answer questions on this. You said it was over-interpreted in the House of Commons and you didn’t want to water it down. Is that what you’re saying?” said Ms Rigby. “It’s very difficult, because how are we going to explain to the public what your intention is, when you change your position and then won’t answer the question, Mr Hunt”. But the Health Secretary maintained his silence until he reached his car and got in. Getty

“This independent research confirms that NHS productivity has been growing at more than double that achieved by the rest of the UK economy including the private sector.”

From April the health service has begun to receive the first instalments of the £20.5bn budget uplift promised by Theresa May.

The investment is less than NHS England said was needed to address the damage of the last decade of austerity. Despite this the prime minister still said it was only available on the proviso that it “tackles waste, reduces bureaucracy and eliminates unacceptable variation”.

The Institute of Economic Affairs, a think tank whose chair has ties to the government, has branded the health service among the most “overrated and inefficient in the world”.

But the latest report puts these claims to rest.

“This certainly gives the lie to the idea that the health service is some sort of backwater of inefficiency missing out on progress – it appears quite the opposite,” said Professor John Appleby, chief economist at the Nuffield Trust think tank.

The York report shows the NHS is delivering 60 per cent more “care” per year than it was in 2004, including 5.2 million more operations a year than and 60 million more patient appointments.

Far more than the relative growth in its funding for staff, medicines and repairs.

Meanwhile, productivity in the UK was stagnant in this period, lagging well behind France, Germany and the US and with little done to address this before belated measures in 2015.​

However, Professor Appleby said the NHS “shouldn’t get carried away”, as quality improvements have been slower since 2011, showing the “trade-offs” that are being made to meet demand.

Waiting times in particular have been getting longer since 2009/10, the report notes, and these reached record levels in A&Es this year, despite a milder winter.

While caps on costly agency spending and “ineffective” treatments, pay freezes, and the rationing of costly services such as IVF and hip surgery have created inequalities and dissatisfaction around the country.

Saffron Cordery, deputy chief executive of NHS Providers, which represents health service trusts, said gains could be maintained if the government gets to grips with workforce issues. It also need to make it easier for NHS organisations to work together – something that would require repealing legislation brought in by the Conservatives to encourage competition.

A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said: “The NHS Long Term Plan sets out a plan to make every penny of taxpayers’ money count and ensure the health service works hard to provide the best possible services and outcomes for patients in the most cost-effective ways.