Healthcare as social infrastructure: productivity and the UK NHS during and after COVID-19

This paper discusses the implications of the demand surge experienced during the COVID-19 pandemic for the UK’s rationed, largely free at the point of need, National Health Service (NHS).

It explores the impact of the past emphasis on cost efficiency of the service in the light of considering the health system as part of the national social infrastructure. An infrastructure perspective incorporating resilience and peak demand considerations sheds new light on the performance of the NHS and underlines the role of the health care system in human capital investment and economy-wide productivity.

Author Diane Coyle (University of Cambridge)