Audit Office asked to investigate record £500m NHS underspend
The National Audit Office has been asked to investigate whether a half billion pound underspend by the NHS in England was caused by political chicanery at the Department of Health. Norman Lamb, the Liberal democrat health spokesman , called in parliament's spending watchdog yesterday after the record surplus was disclosed by the Guardian in an analysis of strategic health authority board papers.
They showed NHS trusts responsible for hospitals, mental health, primary care and ambulance services ended the financial year in March with £456.8m in spare cash that could have been used to provide extra healthcare. The total did not include a surplus of £75m that was forecast by NHS foundation trusts.
The underspend angered health union leaders who said it was generated by an unnecessarily harsh squeeze on spending during the winter months when many NHS trusts economised by closing wards, axing jobs and delaying operations until the start of the new financial year in April.
Mr Lamb said patients and staff bore the brunt of economy measures that were designed to save the political career of Patricia Hewitt, the health secretary. She had threatened to resign if the health service made a deficit in 2006/7 after overspending by £547m in 2005/6.
The Liberal Democrat health spokesman said: "Everything was driven by her desire at all costs to avoid another deficit. That distorted everyone's judgment and as a result they over-compensated.
"I'm writing to the National Audit Office to ask for an investigation of how NHS finances were managed over the last financial year. It should establish whether decisions were rational or distorted by manoeuvring to save Patricia Hewitt's political skin."
He added: "It was the soft targets that suffered the most damage. Mental health budgets were cut, voluntary organisations suffered and staff training was axed. This is what happens in a ludicrously over-centralised system. So much is dictated from Whitehall and forced through by strategic health authorities that do the bidding of the health secretary.
Andrew Lansley, the shadow health secretary, said the half billion underspend would, if confirmed by the government, dwarf the previous record surplus of £130m in 1993-04.
"Last year was meant to be a year of growth, but because of the proceeding two years of financial mismanagement the NHS suffered imposed cutbacks - 37,000 jobs losses, 6,000 newly qualified health professionals out of work and 9,000 bed cuts ... Most inexcusable are the short-sighted cuts to education and public health budgets, which all now need to be put back in place if intolerable pressures on the NHS are to be avoided in the future."
He blamed Gordon Brown, the chancellor, for making unnecessary cuts to mask the deficits still arising in many NHS organisations.
The Department of Health would not discuss the underspend before it announces official figures next month. A spokesman said it responded to an "unacceptable" deficit of more than £500m in
The nursing unions said the underspend demonstrated that the NHS could afford a 2.5% pay rise that an independent review body proposed for nurses, midwives and other healthcare staff. The government said it was unaffordable and staged the award, saving about £60m in 2006-07. The Royal College of Nursing and Unison, the public sector union, are preparing to ballot on industrial action.
Hamish Meldrum, the chairman of the British Medical Association's GPs committee, said in a letter to the Guardian: "The Department of Health and the chief executive of the NHS Confederation may crow about the tremendous efforts involved to achieve the reported £500m surplus in NHS spending for the last financial year. But these "efforts" have been achieved at the cost of multiple ward closures, thousands of job cuts, and a large number of delayed operations and outpatient appointments."
Mr Brown used to decry the boom/bust management of the economy during the last Conservative administrations as being bad for the country. "Boom and bust are not just bad for the NHS, they're bad for those who work in it and especially bad for patients who have paid the price for it," Dr Meldrum said.
The surplus might have, temporarily, saved Ms Hewitt's job, but it showed the country needed need a change in health secretary and a radical rethink in NHS policy, he added.
From:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,,2090834,00.html
In a desperate attempt to try and balance the NHS's books Health Direct posted on 9 Feb 07-
Bed closures healthy sign for NHS, says Patricia Hewitt .
Patricia Hewitt, the Health Secretary, was criticised yesterday 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.
New research showed that frontline NHS trusts which run hospitals and GP clinics across England are on course to finish the year £1.05 billion in the red — only a fraction below last year's record deficit.
The figure is drawn from a Conservative analysis of the deficits being forecast by each of England's 10 strategic health authorities.
While front line trusts are deep in the red, the strategic health authorities themselves are on course to end the year with a huge £920 million surplus — almost twice last year's figure. This allows ministers to say the overall deficit across the whole NHS is only £132 million.
However, the Tories claimed that health authorities have only been able to produce such a big surplus by slashing the amount they spend on crucial services, including training for doctors and nurses.
The figures were released as Miss Hewitt was accused of living on a "fantasy planet" after defending the proposals to overhaul services across the country.
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. "What we hear about from patients is inappropriate discharges with patients being sent home too soon," said Katherine Murphy, a spokesman for the association.
"We heard from one patients due to be discharged on a Wednesday who was away from her bed for 50 minutes, the night before to take a bath. When she went back to the ward someone was in her bed. Beds are being closed because of financial deficits. I would not call this a mark of success," she said.
They showed NHS trusts responsible for hospitals, mental health, primary care and ambulance services ended the financial year in March with £456.8m in spare cash that could have been used to provide extra healthcare. The total did not include a surplus of £75m that was forecast by NHS foundation trusts.
The underspend angered health union leaders who said it was generated by an unnecessarily harsh squeeze on spending during the winter months when many NHS trusts economised by closing wards, axing jobs and delaying operations until the start of the new financial year in April.
Mr Lamb said patients and staff bore the brunt of economy measures that were designed to save the political career of Patricia Hewitt, the health secretary. She had threatened to resign if the health service made a deficit in 2006/7 after overspending by £547m in 2005/6.
The Liberal Democrat health spokesman said: "Everything was driven by her desire at all costs to avoid another deficit. That distorted everyone's judgment and as a result they over-compensated.
"I'm writing to the National Audit Office to ask for an investigation of how NHS finances were managed over the last financial year. It should establish whether decisions were rational or distorted by manoeuvring to save Patricia Hewitt's political skin."
He added: "It was the soft targets that suffered the most damage. Mental health budgets were cut, voluntary organisations suffered and staff training was axed. This is what happens in a ludicrously over-centralised system. So much is dictated from Whitehall and forced through by strategic health authorities that do the bidding of the health secretary.
Andrew Lansley, the shadow health secretary, said the half billion underspend would, if confirmed by the government, dwarf the previous record surplus of £130m in 1993-04.
"Last year was meant to be a year of growth, but because of the proceeding two years of financial mismanagement the NHS suffered imposed cutbacks - 37,000 jobs losses, 6,000 newly qualified health professionals out of work and 9,000 bed cuts ... Most inexcusable are the short-sighted cuts to education and public health budgets, which all now need to be put back in place if intolerable pressures on the NHS are to be avoided in the future."
He blamed Gordon Brown, the chancellor, for making unnecessary cuts to mask the deficits still arising in many NHS organisations.
The Department of Health would not discuss the underspend before it announces official figures next month. A spokesman said it responded to an "unacceptable" deficit of more than £500m in
The nursing unions said the underspend demonstrated that the NHS could afford a 2.5% pay rise that an independent review body proposed for nurses, midwives and other healthcare staff. The government said it was unaffordable and staged the award, saving about £60m in 2006-07. The Royal College of Nursing and Unison, the public sector union, are preparing to ballot on industrial action.
Hamish Meldrum, the chairman of the British Medical Association's GPs committee, said in a letter to the Guardian: "The Department of Health and the chief executive of the NHS Confederation may crow about the tremendous efforts involved to achieve the reported £500m surplus in NHS spending for the last financial year. But these "efforts" have been achieved at the cost of multiple ward closures, thousands of job cuts, and a large number of delayed operations and outpatient appointments."
Mr Brown used to decry the boom/bust management of the economy during the last Conservative administrations as being bad for the country. "Boom and bust are not just bad for the NHS, they're bad for those who work in it and especially bad for patients who have paid the price for it," Dr Meldrum said.
The surplus might have, temporarily, saved Ms Hewitt's job, but it showed the country needed need a change in health secretary and a radical rethink in NHS policy, he added.
From:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,,2090834,00.html
In a desperate attempt to try and balance the NHS's books Health Direct posted on 9 Feb 07-
Bed closures healthy sign for NHS, says Patricia Hewitt .
Patricia Hewitt, the Health Secretary, was criticised yesterday 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.
New research showed that frontline NHS trusts which run hospitals and GP clinics across England are on course to finish the year £1.05 billion in the red — only a fraction below last year's record deficit.
The figure is drawn from a Conservative analysis of the deficits being forecast by each of England's 10 strategic health authorities.
While front line trusts are deep in the red, the strategic health authorities themselves are on course to end the year with a huge £920 million surplus — almost twice last year's figure. This allows ministers to say the overall deficit across the whole NHS is only £132 million.
However, the Tories claimed that health authorities have only been able to produce such a big surplus by slashing the amount they spend on crucial services, including training for doctors and nurses.
The figures were released as Miss Hewitt was accused of living on a "fantasy planet" after defending the proposals to overhaul services across the country.
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. "What we hear about from patients is inappropriate discharges with patients being sent home too soon," said Katherine Murphy, a spokesman for the association.
"We heard from one patients due to be discharged on a Wednesday who was away from her bed for 50 minutes, the night before to take a bath. When she went back to the ward someone was in her bed. Beds are being closed because of financial deficits. I would not call this a mark of success," she said.
Labels: nhs-cash-shortages, Patricia-Hewitt
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