Healthcare systems are short on people, time and capacity. The solution is not simply about recruiting more staff (a strategy which has its own constraints), but about enabling the existing workforce to do more of the work that actually matters.
How? By redesigning care around smarter processes, modern technology and specialist financing models. However, most healthcare organisations are working within tightly constrained budgets that limit their ability to invest in major technology upgrades. Penny Pinnock, Business Development Manager, Siemens Financial Services, explores the issue.
The global shortage of healthcare workers is expected to reach 11 million by 2030, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).[i] While this shortage is more severe in low- and lower-middle income countries, the WHO notes that all countries face, to varying degrees, difficulties in training, deploying and retaining their workforce.
The UK’s position
Where does the UK fall? McKinsey defines the UK as worker-advantaged, where more healthcare workers serve the population than the global median, but many roles remain unfilled.[ii] For these countries, the largest opportunity lies in improving healthcare worker effectiveness, which then strengthens healthcare worker capacity.
Lord Darzi’s report on the state of the National Health Service (NHS)[iii] provides a clearer picture. Hospital staff numbers have increased sharply since the pandemic – rising by 17% between 2019 and 2023. There are 35% more nurses working with adults and 75% more with children than 15 years ago. The number of appointments, operations and procedures, however, has not increased at the same pace – and so productivity has fallen.
According to the report, the key reason for this is that patients no longer flow through hospitals as they should. Instead of putting their time and talents into achieving better outcomes, clinicians’ efforts are wasted on solving process problems, such as calling wards trying to find available beds.
Reinventing healthcare provision
How can we improve worker effectiveness (and therefore capacity)? The government’s 10 Year Health Plan for England (published July 2025) focuses on three shifts[iv]:
- Hospital to community
- Analogue to digital
- Sickness to prevention
Each shift seeks to empower both patients and healthcare professionals. Digital transformation is central. The plan aims to transform the NHS ‘from global laggard to global leader in technology’, reducing bureaucracy by automating tasks, using AI to improve clinical outcomes and giving patients greater control of their data.[v]
| “This model will be supported and enabled at all levels by service transformation through technology, with a default preference that patients interact with services digitally, wherever possible and clinically appropriate.”
Medium Term Planning Framework – delivering change together 2026/27 to 2028/29 |
From the way we shop to the way we socialise and how our politics is conducted, technology has transformed daily life. Yet, all too often, healthcare organisations remain in the foothills of digital transformation. Lord Darzi’s report described the last decade as a “missed opportunity” to prepare the NHS for the future and embrace technologies that would enable a shift from ‘diagnose and treat’ to ‘predict and prevent’.
Without further digital technology investment, much of the desired reform to combat staff shortages will be virtually impossible. From AI-enabled diagnostics, laboratory automation and point-of-care diagnostics to telemedicine software and hardware, clinical workflow software and smart hospital technologies, technology holds the key to new ways of working.
Multiple studies and pilots have revealed the potential impact of digital tools on worker time. A US survey[vi], for instance, found that tech enablement, automation, and improved task delegation could free up to 15 percent of nurses’ time – equivalent to closing a staffing gap of up to 300,000 nurses (there is an estimated shortage of 200,000 to 450,000 nurses in the United States). In the UK, trials of AI software that automatically produces clinic notes and letters showed time savings of over 26.3% across consultations.[vii]
Finance in actionSpecialist finance plays a vital role in supporting private clinics, which in turn helps ease pressure on the NHS. One example is a new diagnostics clinic in London. The clinic’s approach to healthcare delivery eases access to care and reduces costs and wait times – especially in pain management, where waiting times are not consistent, and sometimes much longer than referral-to-treatment targets[viii]. The diagnostics clinic is offering high-quality diagnostic imaging, as well as an ‘office-based laboratory’ for a range of minimally invasive procedures. To optimise efficiency, the team is committed to using the latest, high-resolution equipment for all MRI examinations. All devices contain the latest software that allows for high-quality imaging with an up to 73% boost in scan speed. Financing from Siemens Financial Services (SFS) and equipment from Siemens Healthineers was therefore integral to the clinic’s launch in the UK. |
| “The health service must become one that is digital-by-default, a principle widely established across government and private services worldwide, but one the NHS has not embraced.”
Medium Term Planning Framework – delivering change together 2026/27 to 2028/29 |
Approaches to technology financing
Most healthcare systems cannot afford major technology upgrades through available capital expenditure budgets. However, every year without proper investment increases the financial burden on healthcare and adversely affects patient outcomes.
To fund strategic digital transformation, healthcare organisations often need to harness private sector finance. Specialist financiers offer two advantages:
- Expertise in healthcare technology: Understanding both the applications and the benefits.
- Flexibility in financing structures: Offering tailored solutions beyond what generalist lenders can provide.
Expert knowledge, particularly the rate of benefits that a healthcare organisation is likely to gain, allows specialists to better understand risk and to develop fruitful long-term financing relationships with healthcare organisations. Specialist financiers typically cover three essential areas of technology investment:
- Equipment replacement: Replacing or upgrading outdated existing technology and clinical infrastructure.
- Extending the life of assets: Knowledge and willingness to finance retrofit, refurbishment and re-siting of equipment and technology – supporting the circular economy.
- Supporting innovation: Enabling investment in new and emerging technologies which deliver a step-change in healthcare delivery, healthcare economics and patient outcomes. This often requires investment on top of equipment replacement and upgrade budgets.
By deploying private finance in these areas, both public and private providers can access the equipment they need for a successful transformation. Private healthcare is offering much-needed support to the NHS, but still needs assistance to comfortably invest in the latest machinery, keeping capital free for other business activities.
Tailored financing solutions
There are various ways a specialist financier might tailor their solutions. Financing terms and periods can be adjusted to spread investments across a period of affordable monthly payments. Payments can also be aligned to usage – such as low-start payments or seasonal variations – to help a healthcare organisation better manage its cash flow.
Arrangements can range from a single piece of technology to a specific department or even a whole institution. One avenue is to set up master agreements for an organisation’s technology investments, allowing equipment to be acquired quickly and simply. Of course, there may be further support required beyond the asset itself. Equipment, service, maintenance and upgrades can all be covered in a single agreement in an ‘as a service’ business model, or at a cost fixed across the financing period.
In sum, technology and AI can transform care – but only if healthcare organisations first break free from capital starvation and explore affordable investment solutions. Specialist financing solutions can unlock investment, enabling staff to focus on patients and improving outcomes.
Explore the priority investment areas for transformative healthcare with the Healthcare Leaders Briefing Series from Siemens Financial Services.
Siemens Transform is back for 2026 at Manchester Central on 15 and 16 July. The event brings together thousands of industry participants, to help accelerate digital and sustainability transformation. Register your interest here.
References
[i] https://www.who.int/health-topics/health-workforce#tab=tab_1
[ii] https://www.mckinsey.com/mhi/our-insights/heartbeat-of-health-reimagining-the-healthcare-workforce-of-the-future
[iii] https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/66f42ae630536cb92748271f/Lord-Darzi-Independent-Investigation-of-the-National-Health-Service-in-England-Updated-25-September.pdf
[iv] https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/10-year-health-plan-for-england-fit-for-the-future
[v] https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/6888a0b1a11f859994409147/fit-for-the-future-10-year-health-plan-for-england.pdf
[vi] https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/healthcare/our-insights/reimagining-the-nursing-workload-finding-time-to-close-the-workforce-gap
[vii] https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2514664524015479
[viii] https://pharmaceutical-journal.com/article/news/some-patients-with-chronic-pain-face-waiting-years-to-see-a-specialist
