Alongside the government's current high profile drive for reform in healthcare and other public services there is an equally challenging agenda focused on efficiency.

The 2004 Gershon Review set out the need for 'transparent and auditable' efficiency gains of £20bn across the whole of the public sector to be achieved in 2007-2008 alone. Almost a third of these savings are expected to come from the NHS.

How can information and communications technology help NHS organisations climb this mountain? E-Health Insider has teamed up with Telewest Business to create this feature which gives the background to the targets for efficiency gains, provides two working examples of NHS organisations that have used ICT to make gains and offers 10 top tips for boosting productivity and efficiency.

Meeting Gershon's tough efficiency challenge The July 2004 Gershon Review into public sector efficiency sets out an extremely tough set of challenges for the NHS. While delivering massive reform and high quality patient services NHS bodies must also meet demanding new productivity goals. Top Tips: A healthy diet for NHS efficiency gains Significant savings can be achieved by the health sector making more effective use of IT and network technologies to deliver efficiencies and rationalise current processes. Here we summarise some of the key areas that are helping to meet NHS targets. Using frameworks to improve purchasing efficiencies As the 2007/8 deadline for public sector bodies to reach efficiency targets looms the NHS needs to seek savings wherever possible. The use of frameworks to purchase ICT equipment and services is one of the most effective ways of doing this. David Astley, national sector sales manager for health and emergency services at Telewest Business explains what’s out there… 3,500 lines, three hospitals, one voice solution Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust provides acute health services for residents in Kent and parts of northeast Sussex. The trust was looking for a single supplier to manage its entire voice requirements, to provide cost-effective communication between its three hospitals and to deliver the round-the-clock resilience that is compulsory when dealing with life-critical calls. It chose Telewest Business. New network underpins NHS National Programme for IT The West Midlands Ambulance Service provides emergency cover for 3.2 million people. Learn how improving its communications infrastructure has helped this emergency service improve operational efficiencies and meet the NHS agenda for modernisation.

E-Health Insider is published by E-Health Media Ltd