More trusts expect deficits as NHS spending cuts bite
Patricia Hewitt's job as secretary of state for health looked safer yesterday as the National Health Service forecast a tiny overall surplus for the current financial year despite more trusts projecting a bigger gross deficit than last year.
The health secretary has said she will take personal responsibility for the NHS achieving financial balance this year. Yesterday the health department published figures suggesting that by the end of next month there will be a £13m surplus in England on a £75bn turnover.
35 per cent of organisations - 2 percentage points up on last year - are forecasting a gross deficit that almost exactly matches last year's £1.3bn.
Those deficits are off-set by surpluses elsewhere and a £450m contingency reserve. But strategic health authorities are also holding back more than £1.1bn top-sliced from the budgets of primary care trusts.
A minority of NHS organisations remain in deep financial trouble. Around 30, or 8 per cent, are forecasting deficits of more than 5 per cent of turnover, with some projecting 10 per cent. In one or two cases, the deficit will be 30 per cent or more.
But the underlying performance of the whole system, including foundation trusts, shows it is running at a small in-year surplus after allowing for a £450m reserve created for this year, and once the £700m of previous overspends dealt with this year, are knocked off.
David Nicholson, the NHS chief executive, said the figures showed the health service would be "on a sound financial footing" for next year.
Some £700m will go back into the budget, on top of an increase of about £7bn in cash spending, with some of the top-sliced money being returned to primary care trusts.
The improvement, however, has come at a price. Around a quarter of primary care trusts are setting minimum waiting times for patients or otherwise slowing treatment, at least until the start of the new financial year.
Hundreds of millions of pounds have been taken from training and other budgets. Some organisations are pushing orders for supplies and planned developments into April and beyond - the start of the new financial year.
Mr Nicholson acknowledged that patients had been affected. But he said the service was still treating more people, and training cuts would be restored next year.
However, Andrew Lansley, the Conservative health spokesman, said "the surplus they have generated is a sham". More organisations were saddled with worse deficits than last year, he said, adding that "Patricia Hewitt's skin is being saved only by savage cuts to centrally held budgets".
The NHS Confederation argued that half the overspend was in just 6 per cent of organisations. It urged the health department to end the "double whammy" caused by a set of accounting rules it said were being applied inappropriately to some hospitals, causing them to enter an inescapable spiral of debt.
From:
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/3f56e594-c151-11db-bf18-000b5df10621.html
The delusions of the Alice in Wonderland were reported by Health Direct blog on Feb09, 07 when in Bed closures are a healthy sign for the NHS, says Patricia Hewitt
Patricia Hewitt, the Health Secretary, was criticised for claiming bed closures were a sign of "success" as new figures showed NHS trusts will end the year more than £1 billion in the red.
The scale of the health service's financial crisis emerged as Miss Hewitt delivered a presentation to the Cabinet on NHS "reconfiguration" — plans which will lead to the closure of dozens of maternity units, casualty departments and community hospitals.
Andrew Lansley, the shadow health secretary, said Miss Hewitt's remarks would be greeted with incredulity at a time when many trusts were struggling to cope with huge deficits.
"The Health Secretary is living on a fantasy planet, far removed from the reality of the front line cuts that are having a daily adverse impact on NHS staff and patients," he said.
"Despite this year's savage job losses, bed cuts and service closures, the NHS organisations providing front-line care are no less in the red than they were last year."
The Patients Association said it did not see bed closures as a sign of success.
As Health Direct wrote on 3 Jan 07- in NHS hospitals told to delay operations to ease health service's debt underfunding.
Health Direct warned that the New Year has only just begun but it is clear that the next three months are not a good time to become ill as the NHS can not cope with Labour's underfunding of the health services as patients in some parts of the National Health Service are for the first time facing minimum waits to be seen and treated as managers attempt to balance their books. Suffolk, Hertfordshire, North Yorkshire and Kingston are all imposing various forms of minimum wait, with some primary care trust chiefs saying their organisations may follow suit as the NHS battles to recover from last year's £536m plus overspend.
The health secretary has said she will take personal responsibility for the NHS achieving financial balance this year. Yesterday the health department published figures suggesting that by the end of next month there will be a £13m surplus in England on a £75bn turnover.
35 per cent of organisations - 2 percentage points up on last year - are forecasting a gross deficit that almost exactly matches last year's £1.3bn.
Those deficits are off-set by surpluses elsewhere and a £450m contingency reserve. But strategic health authorities are also holding back more than £1.1bn top-sliced from the budgets of primary care trusts.
A minority of NHS organisations remain in deep financial trouble. Around 30, or 8 per cent, are forecasting deficits of more than 5 per cent of turnover, with some projecting 10 per cent. In one or two cases, the deficit will be 30 per cent or more.
But the underlying performance of the whole system, including foundation trusts, shows it is running at a small in-year surplus after allowing for a £450m reserve created for this year, and once the £700m of previous overspends dealt with this year, are knocked off.
David Nicholson, the NHS chief executive, said the figures showed the health service would be "on a sound financial footing" for next year.
Some £700m will go back into the budget, on top of an increase of about £7bn in cash spending, with some of the top-sliced money being returned to primary care trusts.
The improvement, however, has come at a price. Around a quarter of primary care trusts are setting minimum waiting times for patients or otherwise slowing treatment, at least until the start of the new financial year.
Hundreds of millions of pounds have been taken from training and other budgets. Some organisations are pushing orders for supplies and planned developments into April and beyond - the start of the new financial year.
Mr Nicholson acknowledged that patients had been affected. But he said the service was still treating more people, and training cuts would be restored next year.
However, Andrew Lansley, the Conservative health spokesman, said "the surplus they have generated is a sham". More organisations were saddled with worse deficits than last year, he said, adding that "Patricia Hewitt's skin is being saved only by savage cuts to centrally held budgets".
The NHS Confederation argued that half the overspend was in just 6 per cent of organisations. It urged the health department to end the "double whammy" caused by a set of accounting rules it said were being applied inappropriately to some hospitals, causing them to enter an inescapable spiral of debt.
From:
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/3f56e594-c151-11db-bf18-000b5df10621.html
The delusions of the Alice in Wonderland were reported by Health Direct blog on Feb09, 07 when in Bed closures are a healthy sign for the NHS, says Patricia Hewitt
Patricia Hewitt, the Health Secretary, was criticised for claiming bed closures were a sign of "success" as new figures showed NHS trusts will end the year more than £1 billion in the red.
The scale of the health service's financial crisis emerged as Miss Hewitt delivered a presentation to the Cabinet on NHS "reconfiguration" — plans which will lead to the closure of dozens of maternity units, casualty departments and community hospitals.
Andrew Lansley, the shadow health secretary, said Miss Hewitt's remarks would be greeted with incredulity at a time when many trusts were struggling to cope with huge deficits.
"The Health Secretary is living on a fantasy planet, far removed from the reality of the front line cuts that are having a daily adverse impact on NHS staff and patients," he said.
"Despite this year's savage job losses, bed cuts and service closures, the NHS organisations providing front-line care are no less in the red than they were last year."
The Patients Association said it did not see bed closures as a sign of success.
As Health Direct wrote on 3 Jan 07- in NHS hospitals told to delay operations to ease health service's debt underfunding.
Health Direct warned that the New Year has only just begun but it is clear that the next three months are not a good time to become ill as the NHS can not cope with Labour's underfunding of the health services as patients in some parts of the National Health Service are for the first time facing minimum waits to be seen and treated as managers attempt to balance their books. Suffolk, Hertfordshire, North Yorkshire and Kingston are all imposing various forms of minimum wait, with some primary care trust chiefs saying their organisations may follow suit as the NHS battles to recover from last year's £536m plus overspend.
Labels: bed closures, NHS deficits, Patricia Hewitt
posted by Dr Search- Principal Consultant at the Search Clinic at
8:12 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home