Health trusts face £160m black hole
Gloomy prognosis over May’s cash boost
STRUGGLING Yorkshire health trusts face a financial black hole of more than £160m after finishing the year in the red, analysis by
The Yorkshire Post can reveal. Eight NHS trusts in the region ended 2017-18 in deficit, fuelling claims that money the Prime Minister has pledged to secure the future of the health service as it marks its 70th anniversary is not enough.
The stark figures, revealed as part of a week-long series on the NHS ahead of its landmark birthday on Thursday, have prompted fears that deficits will only get worse, despite the Government’s promise of a £20.5bn boost for the NHS budget by the end of 2023-24.
Paula Sherriff, the Shadow Minister for Mental Health and MP for Dewsbury, said: “Those latest figures underscore the grim reality of eight years of cuts and privatisation on the NHS.
“Locally, I’m told of the impact that this is having on the ability of NHS staff to do their jobs.
“Whilst this situation continues, deficits will inevitably continue to deepen and services continue to be run down. In our area, this has meant staff shortages and the downgrade of services.”
The eight cash-strapped trusts had a combined shortfall of £163.3m.
Fourteen trusts in the region returned a surplus, with the pots of cash adding up to £91.19m.
But the figures fail to take Yorkshire’s health trusts into the black overall, leaving a deficit across all 22 organisations of £72m.
The worst-performing trust, Northern Lincolnshire and Goole NHS Foundation Trust, ran up a deficit of £42.2m.
At the other end of the scale, the Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust had the biggest surplus, with £18.88m.
Earlier this month, in a move to support the NHS’s future, Theresa May said it would receive an increase of £20.5bn in real terms per annum, by the end of the next five years.
But the cash injection equates to funding rising on average by 3.4 per cent each year – less than the four per cent increase that health experts have argued is needed to keep up with a growing demand for services.
The King’s Fund chief executive Chris Ham said the cash was a “welcome shot in the arm” but not a long-term cure to “restore [the NHS] to full health”.
He added: “Hard choices lie ahead and it will be difficult to reduce financial deficits among NHS providers, get back on track in delivering national waiting time standards and bring about further improvements.”
The Northern Lincolnshire
and Goole NHS Foundation Trust ended the year nearly £29m worse off than forecast.
Figures from the regulator NHS Improvement indicate that the plan was for the trust to finish with a deficit of £13.23m.
A spokesperson for the trust said it would continue to work with the regulator, which oversees health providers, on its financial recovery plan.
A statement said: “The challenges that the trust faces include high demand for services and a challenging workforce position.
“These have contributed to an increase in spending on agency staff, drugs and clinical supplies.”
It added: “We must ensure that the trust is making effective use of every pound of public money we spend.”
Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust finished the year with a surplus more than double its planned £9.07m and the largest in its history.
The surplus was around 1.5 per cent of the organisation’s £1.2bn turnover.
A statement from the trust said waste reduction schemes, which saved £64m, and funding awarded in return for the trust meeting its agreed financial targets helped it to reach its financial position.
As a whole the NHS “broadly” achieved financial balance for 2017-18.
But NHS Improvement’s report said health providers faced “higher-than-planned levels of A&E activity and high levels of bed occupancy” and that the sector ended the year with a £960m deficit, more than £460m worse than planned.
NHS England provisionally reported it managed a £955m underspend for commissioning healthcare services, including £640m released from reserves, helping to balance the budget.