Towards benchmarking in British acute hospitals

Abstract

The 1997 White Paper - The New NHS - on the future of the National Health Service accorded a high profile to the use of benchmarking as a means of improving efficiency over the following decade. Here, I examine the prospects for the successful adoption of benchmarking in the acute-hospital sector. A benchmarking model is superimposed upon a model of receptive contexts for change, and the components are used to explore the background to the development of benchmarking and likely attitudes towards its implementation. Where appropriate, empirical evidence is introduced to shed light on the ideas explored. I conclude that the wider political agenda accompanying benchmarking has potentially far-reaching implications for the re-distribution of resources on regional, or even national, bases. However, the steady drip-drip on stone is necessary to achieve results at local operational levels. Only by harnessing the strengths of extant cultures will efforts to identify and adopt the most efficient/effective medical practices succeed and potentially conflicting social tensions be resolved.