NHS deficits leading to quality divide for patients as red tape costs soar
A deepening divide is emerging between NHS organisations that are managing their finances well and the nearly one third that remain in poor financial health, the Audit Commission has warned.
A minority of about 27 organisations – including hospital and primary care trusts – are in such difficulty that according to Steve Bundred, the commission’s chief executive, “there appears little hope that they can get out of trouble by themselves”.
The commission’s report also provides the first firm figures on the cost of redundancies from the government’s decision to slash the number of strategic health authorities and primary care trusts – revealing that the average payout has exceeded £300,000.
The finding that the best performers in the NHS are opening up an ever-wider gap with those at the bottom mirrors the conclusion of last week’s “state of the nation” report from the Healthcare Commission on the NHS.
“There is a worrying gap between the top performers and those still failing to meet their duty to balance their books,” Mr Bundred said, in spite of the NHS’s surplus of £515m last year and forecast surplus of £983m this year. Foundation trusts are also sitting on cash balances of more than £1.3bn.
Its measures of quality showed high performance at the top end, a disappointing number of NHS organisations providing a merely adequate service, and big problems at the bottom end.
The worst performers on service quality were in general also the worst performers financially.
Mr Bundred said the NHS “needs to focus urgently on the management of this small group of NHS bodies that are failing across the board”.
Alan Johnson, the health secretary, has said the poorest performing hospitals faced being taken over by organisations that performed better. This has happened in Birmingham, where the Heart of England foundation trust took over the Good Hope hospital.
Meanwhile, the Commission reported that the bill for redundancies arising from health service reorganisation had so far amounted to £192m, with much more to come in this year’s accounts.
The average payout stands at more than £308,000. Some payments to individuals had been “significant”, the commission said, with some costing more than £500,000.
Savings from reducing the number of organisations amounted to only £90m of the £250m that the government had said the changes would generate, the commission said. It would be monitoring closely whether the savings were made, it added.
The health department has said the cost of job losses will amount to at least £320m. The Audit Commission noted that someone made redundant might be re- employed by the NHS after only four weeks. But it said it had not been possible to find out in how many cases this had occurred.
From:
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/b36e7de8-80f5-11dc-9f14-0000779fd2ac.html
Health Direct suggest that the Audit Commission is behind the curve in their calculations. On July 20, 2007 Health Direct posted: NHS manager's payout is nearly £1m
An NHS manager has been given a redundancy package worth almost £1 million in what was described as "a lottery win rather than a payout". David Johnson, the former head of a regional strategic health authority, was one of about 70 staff who left the organisation when it was abolished as part of a restructuring programme.
The 50-year-old received a package worth £899,810 including salary and pension arrangements. The reorganisation was supposed to save £250 million a year in administration costs. However, the NHS is thought to have spent at least £320 million on redundancy packages to those who have lost their jobs.
A minority of about 27 organisations – including hospital and primary care trusts – are in such difficulty that according to Steve Bundred, the commission’s chief executive, “there appears little hope that they can get out of trouble by themselves”.
The commission’s report also provides the first firm figures on the cost of redundancies from the government’s decision to slash the number of strategic health authorities and primary care trusts – revealing that the average payout has exceeded £300,000.
The finding that the best performers in the NHS are opening up an ever-wider gap with those at the bottom mirrors the conclusion of last week’s “state of the nation” report from the Healthcare Commission on the NHS.
“There is a worrying gap between the top performers and those still failing to meet their duty to balance their books,” Mr Bundred said, in spite of the NHS’s surplus of £515m last year and forecast surplus of £983m this year. Foundation trusts are also sitting on cash balances of more than £1.3bn.
Its measures of quality showed high performance at the top end, a disappointing number of NHS organisations providing a merely adequate service, and big problems at the bottom end.
The worst performers on service quality were in general also the worst performers financially.
Mr Bundred said the NHS “needs to focus urgently on the management of this small group of NHS bodies that are failing across the board”.
Alan Johnson, the health secretary, has said the poorest performing hospitals faced being taken over by organisations that performed better. This has happened in Birmingham, where the Heart of England foundation trust took over the Good Hope hospital.
Meanwhile, the Commission reported that the bill for redundancies arising from health service reorganisation had so far amounted to £192m, with much more to come in this year’s accounts.
The average payout stands at more than £308,000. Some payments to individuals had been “significant”, the commission said, with some costing more than £500,000.
Savings from reducing the number of organisations amounted to only £90m of the £250m that the government had said the changes would generate, the commission said. It would be monitoring closely whether the savings were made, it added.
The health department has said the cost of job losses will amount to at least £320m. The Audit Commission noted that someone made redundant might be re- employed by the NHS after only four weeks. But it said it had not been possible to find out in how many cases this had occurred.
From:
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/b36e7de8-80f5-11dc-9f14-0000779fd2ac.html
Health Direct suggest that the Audit Commission is behind the curve in their calculations. On July 20, 2007 Health Direct posted: NHS manager's payout is nearly £1m
An NHS manager has been given a redundancy package worth almost £1 million in what was described as "a lottery win rather than a payout". David Johnson, the former head of a regional strategic health authority, was one of about 70 staff who left the organisation when it was abolished as part of a restructuring programme.
The 50-year-old received a package worth £899,810 including salary and pension arrangements. The reorganisation was supposed to save £250 million a year in administration costs. However, the NHS is thought to have spent at least £320 million on redundancy packages to those who have lost their jobs.
Labels: Audit Commission, Labour waste, poor NHS standards, red tape
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