Archive · 3 Sep 2026
NHS England Chair Says India Could Model Efficient Healthcare
An NHS England chair said India has useful lessons for healthcare systems around the world.
She was especially interested in how India combines technology with standard ways of working.
She said this helps India provide good care to a very large population at lower costs.
She also mentioned healthcare ideas from New Zealand, Singapore, Germany and Nordic countries.
The NHS provides high-quality care in many places, but care is not always delivered in the same way.
New ideas can also take too long to spread across the NHS.
Dash said better digital patient records could help doctors understand what treatments work.
She warned that many records are stored as PDFs, making them difficult to search and analyse.
NHS England chair Dash described India as a potential global healthcare exemplar.
She praised India’s combination of technology, standardised processes and large-scale delivery.
Dash said India provides high-quality care at dramatically lower unit costs, according to her assessment.
She highlighted electronic records, data use and prevention efforts in healthcare systems worldwide.
Dash said the NHS must reduce variation, improve innovation adoption and make better use of structured patient data.
- Who
- Dash, chair of NHS England, discussed lessons healthcare systems can learn from India and other countries.
- What
- She said India could become a global healthcare exemplar because it combines technology, standardisation and scale.
- Where
- The comments were made during a wider discussion about healthcare systems; the specific location was not stated.
- Why
- Countries are facing rising healthcare costs, growing demand and larger ageing populations, while the NHS seeks to improve efficiency and reduce variation.
- Speaker
- Dash, chair of NHS England
- Highlighted country
- India
- Key strengths cited
- Technology, standardised operating processes and large-scale delivery
- NHS challenge
- Variation in care between hospitals, GP practices and clinicians
- Digital records issue
- Many electronic health records remain stored as PDFs rather than structured data
- Other examples mentioned
- New Zealand, Singapore, Germany and Nordic countries