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Productivity
At Novartis UK, we strive to support the NHS in making better use of existing resources, reducing avoidable demand, and enabling healthcare professionals to spend more time delivering care where it has the greatest impact.
Across our collaborative working projects, productivity is approached as a system challenge, not an individual one. That means efficiently addressing how patients are identified, how services are organised, and how care is delivered across pathways.
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Using data and digital tools to act earlier
One of the most effective ways to improve productivity is to intervene earlier, before patients experience avoidable deterioration or unplanned events.
Novartis UK works with NHS partners to support digital and data-enabled approaches that help teams identify patients earlier, prioritise those at highest risk, and respond proactively.
Enabling earlier identification can reduce demand on urgent and specialist services, while supporting prevention goals and long-term sustainability, ultimately reducing secondary care backlogs.
Learn more about how we have partnered with Buckinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust on a collaborative working project focused on improving lipid management and reducing secondary care backlogs through a population health approach. The project uses a population health search tool to support the identification of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD) patients who may benefit from review and management.1
Reducing delays, duplication, and missed contact
Productivity is often lost in waiting for appointments, waiting for results and waiting for answers.
Novartis UK supports service models that streamline communication to reduce unnecessary touchpoints. This includes workforce optimisation initiatives that help ensure patients know who to contact, while enabling the service workforce to work at the top of their skillset.
Improving coordination does not just enhance patient experience. It frees up clinical capacity and reduces repeated interactions that add pressure without adding value.
Across these projects, we ask ourselves:
- Where do patients experience the longest waits or uncertainty?
- Are there opportunities to reduce repeat appointments or missed contacts?
- Could changes in roles or responsibilities unlock capacity?
We recently worked with Frimley Health NHS Foundation Trust to redesign their multiple sclerosis (MS) service, resulting in increased clinical capacity, reduced waiting times and improved time to treatment for MS patients.2
Read the collaborative working project case study to learn more about how you could replicate this within your service.
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Bringing care closer to patients
Delivering care in the most appropriate setting is a core productivity principle within the Fit for the Future: 10 Year Health Plan for England.3
Novartis UK collaborates with systems exploring ways to move elements of care into community settings.
Community-based testing, diagnosis, prescribing, and monitoring can improve access and reduce pressure on acute services. These approaches can also support efforts to reduce unwarranted variation and address health inequalities.
See how we partnered with South East London Integrated Care Board (ICB) and King's Health Partners to implement community-based CVD testing for underserved communities in South East London.4
Optimising patient pathways
Small inefficiencies with existing processes quickly add up at system level.
Novartis UK works with NHS partners to support pathway review and redesign, helping teams map current processes, identify bottlenecks, and test improvements.
Pathway optimisation supports productivity by making better use of clinical time and reducing avoidable variation between services.
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Questions to explore locally:
- Where do patients fall between services or experience duplication?
- Are there steps in the pathway that no longer add value?
- How consistently is care delivered across your system?
Productivity, prevention, and health inequalities
Improving productivity and tackling health inequalities are not competing priorities. They are closely linked.5
Earlier identification, community-based care, and clearer pathways can all help reduce inequities in access to healthcare and improve outcomes. By supporting systems to reach people earlier and deliver care more efficiently, productivity initiatives can also contribute to fairer care and better population health.
That is why in 2021, we launched our health inequalities pledge, a multi-year commitment to work in collaboration with partners from across the healthcare ecosystem to accelerate collective action on tackling health inequalities.
Our pledge:
We will collaborate to develop solutions that enable quicker diagnosis and earlier intervention for people most likely to experience health issues.6
This aligns with Novartis UK’s commitment to supporting NHS priorities through compliant, transparent collaboration focused on sustainable improvement.
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References:
Novartis UK. Buckinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust. Available from: https://www.novartis.com/uk-en/about/partnerships/collaborative-working/buckinghamshire-healthcare-nhs-trust [Last accessed: June 2026]
Novartis UK. Frimley Health NHS Foundation Trust. Available from: https://www.novartis.com/uk-en/about/partnerships/collaborative-working/frimley-health-nhs-foundation-trust-ms-service-redesign [Last accessed: June 2026]
NHS England. Fit For the Future: 10 Year Health Plan for England. Available at: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/6888a0b1a11f859994409147/fit-for-the-future-10-year-health-plan-for-england.pdf [Last accessed: June 2026]
Novartis UK. King’s Health Partners. Available from: https://www.novartis.com/uk-en/about/partnerships/collaborative-working/kings-health-partners [Last accessed: June 2026]
Gov.uk. Major conditions strategy: case for change and our strategic framework. Available from: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/major-conditions-strategy-case-for-change-and-our-strategic-framework/major-conditions-strategy-case-for-change-and-our-strategic-framework--2. [Last accessed June 2026]
Novartis UK. Health Inequalities. Available from: https://www.novartis.com/uk-en/esg/health-inequalities [Last accessed June 2026]
UK | June 2026 | FA-11624088 Fictional patient and healthcare professional images.
Adverse events should be reported. Reporting forms and information can be found at www.mhra.gov.uk/yellowcard. Adverse events should also be reported to Novartis online through the pharmacovigilance intake (PVI) tool at www.novartis.com/report, or alternatively email [email protected] or call 01276 698370.
