Book Description
Although in 2011-12 there was a surplus of £2.1 billion across the NHS as a whole, there is also some financial distress, particularly in some hospital trusts. In the long term, achieving financially sustainable healthcare is likely to mean changes to how and where people access services, and some local commissioners are already consulting on and developing plans to do this. Currently, some organisations have relied on additional financial support from within the NHS. 10 NHS trusts, 21 NHS foundation trusts, and three Primary Care Trusts (PCTs) have reported a combined deficit of £356 million. There are four foundation trusts and 17 NHS trusts which between 2006-07 and 2011-12 needed injections of working capital from the Department of Health totalling £1 billion. The Department anticipates that NHS trusts and NHS foundation trusts are likely to need around £300 million more public dividend capital in 2012-13. 51 per cent of PCTs reported concern about the financial sustainability of their healthcare providers. Previously, PCTs and Strategic Health Authorities (SHAs) have been able to support otherwise weak providers. It is not yet clear whether clinical commissioning groups and the NHS Commissioning Board will agree to provide financial support to providers in this way. The NAO concludes that it is hard to see how continuing to give financial support to organisations in difficulty will be a sustainable way of reconciling growing demand for healthcare with the size of efficiency gains required within the NHS
