Benchmarking to Support Better Sexual Health Services Across London

The London Sexual Health Programme is developing a pan-London benchmarking framework to help providers and commissioners better understand the cost, performance and delivery of sexual health services. This work is distinct from the tariff review. While tariff development focuses on the price of specific commissioned activities, benchmarking examines the cost and resources required to deliver the whole service, providing a broader understanding of efficiency, productivity and variation.

The framework brings together activity, workforce, financial and operational data to produce meaningful comparisons across providers. The measures are being developed collaboratively with clinical, operational and finance colleagues to ensure they are practical, robust and aligned with existing NHS benchmarking approaches where possible. A separate methodology paper will be published in due course.

The insights gained will support providers in identifying opportunities for improvement and commissioners in making informed, evidence-based decisions that deliver high-quality, sustainable sexual health services across London.