From 12 February 2026, NHSE will start publishing monthly trust level productivity growth statistics, including the extent to which digital and tech adoption is contributing to productivity.

The ‘Productivity plan – update’, published on 4 February 2026, says that annual productivity improvements of 2% will be driven “through technology and digital innovation, funded through the current Spending Review settlement”.

The plan, authored by Elizabeth O’Mahony, chief financial officer, says that the potential of technology and digital investment will only be realised if organisations take tougher decisions “to implement those systems, to realise the benefits, and (where appropriate) to remove current systems and processes that are a drag on improvement”.

It adds that it is important for the NHS to place greater emphasis on community and preventative activity, with digital tools used to support new models of care.

The update highlights evidence that some digital programmes have already yielded benefits.

It says that the NHS Wayfinder programme, which enables patients to book appointments and engage in documentation with trusts, has “significantly exceeded its benefits target for the year and can demonstrate major reductions in the DNA rate where it is installed”.

It also points to “good and growing evidence that providers that fully connect to all the core services of the NHS App see a 2.5-3% improvement in their waiting lists”.

However, it adds that the current model gives “a high degree of discretion to local providers, and in turn makes it complex and expensive to integrate services into the NHS App and to provide a low-cost digital-first service in front of (more expensive) face to face care”.

NHSE says that to tackle this problem it is working to “evidence the potential to shift to a digital-by-default service model” with mental health.

It also highlights the benefits of the AI clinical assistant Dora, which can phone patients and have a routine clinical conversation.

The technology is being used at Buckinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust to assess whether patients who have uncomplicated cataract surgery are suitable for telephone follow-up by the nursing team.

“This use of AI frees up clinical time to deliver care to more patients, cutting waiting times by delivering more activity with the same workforce.

“But the technology will only improve productivity if it is deployed effectively and clinical practices change to complement the innovation.

“Too often technology has been implemented in the NHS only to create duplicative processes and increase admin time,” the plan says.

To scale the opportunities across all pathways would require setting “a highly ambitious vision through the Modern Service Frameworks and to then enforce and incentivise the use of these technologies through, for example, the application of Best Practice Tariffs in the NHS Payment Scheme,” the report adds.

In January, details of a major NHS programme aimed at maximising frontline productivity through the effective use of digital, were leaked online.

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