A new report has shown how the NHS' push for productivity is resulting in burnout of staff.

Published by NHS Providers, it aimed to highlight various ways healthcare organisations were working towards better productivity levels.

These methods included digitisation to free staff up, collaborating with neighbouring organisations to share a workload, standardisation and incentivising staff to reduce the long waiting lists.

Sir Julian Hartley, chief executive of NHS Providers, said: "As we continue our recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic, trusts are working flat out to tackle record-high care backlogs and long waiting lists, at the same time as identifying significant efficiency savings and delivering more activity within existing resources while maintaining high quality patient care.

He said the report shows "trusts are committed to do their part to improve productivity; but they need support from government and national bodies to unlock their full potential."

In a previous survey, they found that 42.7 per cent of staff often or always feel worn out at the end of their shift and 30.4 per cent feel burnt out because of their work. 

Director of Nursing at the Royal College of Nursing, Professor Nicola Ranger, said: “This report highlights just how hard NHS staff are working to deliver for patients, but also the terrible levels of burnout they face.

“It is right to celebrate the innovation taking place in our health service, but we cannot lose sight of staff shortages, which are the fundamental problem holding service productivity back.

“Nursing staff are clinical leaders and key to solving the health service’s problems, but the real worry is that the next government simply asks them to continue doing more with less."