NHS Benchmarking Network

What NHS Benchmarking Network does

NHS Benchmarking Network is a UK non-profit, member-led benchmarking organisation founded in 1996 (rebranded from NHS Benchmarking Club on 1 January 2008) that provides peer-to-peer benchmarking services to NHS trusts, Integrated Care Boards, independent healthcare providers and voluntary sector providers. Headquartered in Manchester with 48 employees, the organisation is hosted by East of England Community Health and Care NHS Trust and delivered by The Benchmarking Network Limited, with governance from a Steering Group of elected sector representatives. It delivers 13 service-specific member datasets (covering mental health, community services, emergency care, pharmacy, virtual wards and others), five indicator tools (Acute, Community, MHLDA, National with ~800 metrics, and Neighbourhood), and three national clinical audits (NACEL, CVDPREVENT, LDIS) commissioned via HQIP within the NCAPOP programme. The technology platform combines bespoke annual data collections with integration of ~40 publicly available data sources, surfaced through interactive online data explorers, dashboards and bespoke member reports inside a secure members' portal.

The commercial model is membership-subscription led: organisations pay annual organisational fees (tiered by type and size) for access to the full dataset catalogue, indicator tools, reports, event programme and forum access. Two priced add-ons — Improvement Opportunity Briefings at £6,300+VAT and a Networking Package at £6,95+VAT — extend revenue per member. Additional contracted revenue comes from commissioned national clinical audits (HQIP/NHS England funded) and international mental health benchmarking delivered in partnership with the Global Leadership Exchange (GLE), which has engaged 15 countries across cycles since 2016 with 9 countries active in the 2026 cycle. Distribution is direct sales to NHS organisations supported by content marketing (website, newsletters, X, LinkedIn, YouTube) and an annual calendar of conferences, webinars and findings events; the network is non-listed and not venture-backed, relying on membership fees and commissioned contracts for funding.

Name

NHS Benchmarking Network

Legal name

The Benchmarking Network Limited

Website

https://nhsbenchmarking.nhs.uk

Company type

Private

Founded year

1996

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

NHS Benchmarking Network is a UK non-profit, member-led organisation founded in 1996 that delivers subscription benchmarking datasets, indicator dashboards, and national clinical audits to NHS trusts, ICBs, independent providers, and voluntary sector providers across the UK.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Healthcare Benchmarking Services

SIC

Services-Health Services (8000), Services-Misc Health & Allied Services, Nec (8090)

akta.pro primary industry

Public Health Quality Measurement & Performance Benchmarking (HLAJAJAL)

akta.pro secondary industry

Healthcare Utilization, Claims & Administrative Data Analytics (HLAJAJAK)

Keywords

• Healthcare benchmarking services
• NHS performance analytics
• Clinical audit programmes
• Healthcare data intelligence
• Comparative health metrics

Headquarters

HQ city

Manchester

HQ country

United Kingdom

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Membership Subscriptions: Annual organisational membership fees that provide access to benchmarking datasets, reports, online tools, events, and networking opportunities. Fees vary by organisation type and size. This is the primary revenue stream funding delivery of the membership benchmarking programme.
2. Opportunity Briefing Enhancement: Bespoke insight session for organisations providing a slide-deck highlighting key improvement and efficiency opportunities based on submitted data. Priced at £6,300 + VAT in addition to foundation membership fee.
3. Networking Package Enhancement: Optional enhancement providing exclusive networking opportunities including in-person member networking event, topic-specific interactive webinars, finance-focused networking event, and membership leads webinar. Priced at £695 + VAT.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion3 records

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels8 records

Core offering

The NHS Benchmarking Network is a member-led membership organisation that delivers healthcare benchmarking services to UK NHS organisations and other providers. Its core offering comprises annual member datasets across 13 service areas (mental health, community services, emergency care, pharmacy, virtual wards, etc.), interactive indicator tools (Acute, Community, MHLDA, National, and Neighbourhood Indicators), and national clinical audits (NACEL, CVDPREVENT, LDIS) accessed via an online members' portal with data explorers, bespoke reports, and shared learning compendiums.

Product overview

The NHS Benchmarking Network is a member-led community providing a comprehensive benchmarking platform for UK health and social care organisations. The offering consists of three main components: (1) Member Datasets covering 13 service areas including mental health, community services, emergency care, pharmacy, and virtual wards; (2) Indicator Tools including Acute, Community, MHLDA, National, and Neighbourhood Indicators providing interactive dashboards; and (3) National Clinical Audits including NACEL, CVDPREVENT, and LDIS. The platform delivers data collection, validation, analysis, visualisation, and networking capabilities through an online members' area with data explorers, reports, shared learning compendiums, and events. Additional commissioned programmes cover international benchmarking and the Zero Suicide Alliance data map.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Adult & Older People's Mental Health Benchmarking Programme UK-wide benchmarking dataset providing comprehensive view of adult and older people's community and inpatient mental health services, covering performance, activity, workforce, and financial metrics for NHS mental health providers.
• Adult/All Ages Community Services Benchmarking Programme Comprehensive benchmarking across adult and all-age community services including cardiac, dietetics, occupational therapy, physiotherapy, podiatry, respiratory, and speech and language therapy for NHS community service providers.
• Children & Young People's Mental Health Benchmarking Programme UK-wide benchmarking dataset providing comprehensive picture of specialist mental health service provision for children and young people, covering clinical characteristics, demographics, bed occupancy, and workforce metrics.
• Children's Community Services Dataset Unified benchmarking dataset for children's community services including nursing, health visiting, paediatrics, school nursing, and 0-19 services.
• District Nursing Benchmarking Dataset Focused deep-dive into district nursing services covering demand, workforce capacity, activity, financial position, and staff experience across community-based care.
• Emergency Care Benchmarking Programme Comprehensive UK-wide overview of emergency care services including Type 1 & 2 emergency departments and Type 3 urgent care centres, covering demand, capacity, staffing, and service utilisation.
• Intermediate Care Benchmarking Project Annual benchmarking of intermediate care services covering urgent community response, home-based and bed-based intermediate care, including clinical case reviews and PREM/staff surveys.
• Learning Disability Specialist Services Benchmarking Programme UK-wide benchmarking of specialist learning disability service provision covering community and inpatient care for children and adults, including autism services.
• Managing Frailty in a Bed-Based Setting Programme Comprehensive benchmarking of care for older people across acute and community hospital settings, covering frailty identification, clinical assessment spaces, and ward-level metrics.
• Mental Health Pharmacy Benchmarking Programme National benchmarking programme for mental health pharmacy services covering pharmacy support to community teams, crisis resolution, home treatment, and bed-based mental health services.
• Outpatients Benchmarking Dataset Benchmarking dataset for outpatient departments covering clinic delivery, follow-up activity, patient-initiated follow-up (PIFU), referrals, workforce, and clinic utilisation metrics.
• Pharmacy & Medicines Optimisation Dataset National benchmarking of pharmacy services across the NHS covering workforce, finance, service delivery, digital maturity, and clinical pharmacy activity including medicines costs, stock, procurement, and prescription turnaround.
• Virtual Ward (Hospital at Home) Benchmarking Programme National benchmarking of virtual ward and hospital at home services covering demand, capacity, bed occupancy, workforce, and patient/staff experience surveys.
• Acute Indicators Tool Interactive dashboard for English Acute Trusts using nationally available data to provide overview of performance across emergency care, elective care, cancer, diagnostics, workforce, maternity, mortality, and beds.
• Community Indicators Tool Monthly data collection for community service providers tracking over 40 metrics across patient safety, quality, access, productivity, workforce, and finance with monthly PDF reports and online data explorer.
• MHLDA Indicators Tool Quarterly data collection providing monthly data across mental health, learning disabilities, and autism services covering adult acute, community, CYP, talking therapies, and LD/ASD services with trend analysis.
• National Indicators Tool Interactive dashboard drawing from around 40 publicly available data sources presenting over 800 metrics in easy-to-navigate charts across population health, activity, capacity, access, quality, and outcomes.
• Neighbourhood Indicators Tool Neighbourhood-level intelligence tool for Integrated Care Boards (ICBs) combining multiple national datasets into intuitive visual outputs for planners, commissioners, and transformation teams at LSOA level.
• NACEL - National Audit of Care at the End of Life National comparative audit of quality and outcomes of care for dying patients and their families across acute hospitals, community hospitals, and mental health inpatient providers in England, Wales, and Jersey.
• CVDPREVENT - Cardiovascular Disease Prevention Audit National primary care audit supporting quality improvement in CVD prevention through GP record data extraction, covering high-risk conditions and pre-existing cardiovascular disease cohorts.
• LDIS - Learning Disability Improvement Standards National collection measuring organisational compliance with NHS England Learning Disability Improvement Standards across four universal standards and one specialist standard for LD services.
• Zero Suicide Alliance Suicide Prevention Data Map Interactive suicide prevention resource map and dashboard developed in partnership with Zero Suicide Alliance, providing intelligence on suicide, risk factors, and mental health services across England.
• International Mental Health Benchmarking Project International mental health benchmarking initiative conducted in partnership with Global Leadership Exchange (GLE), bringing together countries to compare and improve mental health services globally.
• Online Data Explorer Easy-to-use online tools for visualising collected benchmarking data, offering dashboards, overview summaries, and full breakdown charts accessible to both analysts and non-analysts.
• Improvement Opportunity Briefings Bespoke insight session and slide-deck highlighting key improvement and efficiency opportunities for organisations based on submitted benchmarking data.
• Networking Package Premium networking enhancement offering exclusive in-person member events, topic-specific interactive webinars, finance-focused events, and membership leads webinars.

Quantifiable outcome

• 3.5 million+ contacts tracked in 2024 CYP Mental Health project
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers7 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles5 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature6 records

Partnerships

Nine partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• Zero Suicide AlliancecoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2020Partnership since 2020 to develop and maintain an interactive suicide prevention resource map and dashboard. NHSBN provides data and analytics input on the ZSA platform supporting evidence-based suicide reduction discourse.
• East of England Community Health and Care NHS TrustcoreOthersThe NHS Benchmarking Network is hosted by East of England Community Health and Care NHS Trust. This host relationship provides governance and organisational oversight for the network.
• The Benchmarking NetworkcoreOthersThe NHS Benchmarking Network is delivered by The Benchmarking Network (The Benchmarking Network Limited), which provides operational delivery of benchmarking services and manages day-to-day activities including HR, technology, and support functions.
• Global Leadership Exchange (GLE)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnership with GLE for international mental health benchmarking since 2016. The project has been delivered in partnership with GLE for bi-annual leadership exchange cycles. 15 countries have participated in one or more cycles.
• Healthcare Quality Improvement Partnership (HQIP)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerNHSBN is commissioned by HQIP to deliver NACEL (National Audit of Care at the End of Life) as part of the National Clinical Audit and Patient Outcomes Programme (NCAPOP).
• NHS EnglandcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCVDPREVENT is commissioned by HQIP and funded by NHS England. NHSBN also delivers workforce programme in conjunction with NHS England. NACEL commissioned through NCAPOP.
• Learning Disability EnglandminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerLearning Disability England facilitates regional patient focus groups for the LDIS (Learning Disability Improvement Standards) project. Co-design partnership for improvement standards.
• Patients AssociationminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerNHSBN works closely with the Patients Association for patient involvement in the CVDPREVENT audit, including running a Patient Focus Group.
• NICE (National Institute for Health and Care Excellence)minorOthersNICE uses CVDPREVENT audit data to gain insight into how CVD guidance is being used across general practice. Relationship with NICE supports quality improvement in primary care.

Scale indicators6 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Others

• The King's Fund: The King's Fund is a UK health policy charity that analyses NHS performance and produces comparative data-driven insight; an adjacent ecosystem participant rather than a direct benchmarking competitor.
• Healthcare Quality Improvement Partnership (HQIP): HQIP commissions and manages national clinical audits in the UK, including programmes delivered by NHSBN. It is an upstream commissioner/administrator relationship rather than a direct competitor.
• NHS Providers: NHS Providers is the membership organisation for NHS hospital, mental health, community, and ambulance trusts, with overlapping constituency and member-led governance model to NHSBN.

Direct peers

• Dr Foster (Telstra Health): Dr Foster is a UK-based healthcare data analytics specialist providing hospital performance benchmarking, mortality indicators, and population health insight to the NHS — a direct competitor in NHS-facing benchmarking analytics.
• The Strategy Unit (NHS Midlands and Lancashire CSU): Hosted within an NHS commissioning support unit, The Strategy Unit provides health analytics, evaluation, and benchmarking services to NHS organisations, overlapping NHSBN's analytics and benchmarking remit.
• CHKS (Capita Healthcare Decisions): CHKS is a long-standing UK healthcare benchmarking and analytics provider (now part of Capita) supplying performance indicators, dashboards, and comparative insight to NHS trusts and hospitals — directly comparable to NHSBN's NHS benchmarking mission.

Broad incumbents

• Vizient: Vizient is a large US healthcare performance improvement and benchmarking company serving hospitals and health systems — comparable in function (healthcare benchmarking/analytics) but broader in scope and geography.
• Press Ganey: Press Ganey is a US patient experience and clinical benchmarking incumbent operating across thousands of provider organisations — thematically comparable as a healthcare benchmarking platform at much greater scale.

Emerging players

• Nuffield Trust: The Nuffield Trust is an independent UK health think tank that produces comparative performance analysis and benchmarking of NHS and international health systems — a thematic peer in NHS performance research.
• Imperial College Health Partners: Imperial College Health Partners is a North West London health innovation and population health analytics partnership producing comparative insights for ICS partners — a partial overlap in NHS system-level benchmarking.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/NHSBenchmarking
• YouTubeyoutube.com/@nhsbenchmarkingnetwork
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/nhs-benchmarking

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles2 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about NHS Benchmarking Network