Welsh NHS set for £92m overspend
THE Welsh NHS is set to overspend by a colossal £92.3m this financial year, it has been revealed.
According to financial forecasts, three out of Wales’ seven health boards will fail to balance their books by the end of March.
Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board, which has been in special measures since in June 2015, is projected to overspend by £41m in 2019-20 – the most of any health board.
The other two health boards set to be in the red are Hywel Dda UHB (£35m) and Swansea Bay UHB (£16.3m), both of which also recorded deficits in 2018-19.
The overspend comes despite the Welsh Government investing an additional £500m in health and social care services in the current financial year.
An increase in demand on A&E
departments, changes to HMRC pension tax rules and an over-reliance on agency staff were all cited as reasons for the health boards being unable to remain within their budgets.
Speaking at an evidence session to the Assembly’s Public Accounts Committee about the NHS Finance (Wales) Act 2014, the chief executive of the Welsh NHS Dr Andrew Goodall said he was “very disappointed” with the projected deficit of the three health boards.
“Eight out of our 11 NHS organisations will break even and seven out of our 11 organisations have approved [financial] plans,” he said.
“Having said that, though, I am disappointed in the three organisations that have still not been able to overcome their deficit.
“We would have expected improvements in all of those during this year.”
Financial forecasts provided by health boards have shown that the Welsh NHS is set to spend a record £169m on agency staff in 2019-20 – a rise of £25m on last year’s figure.
When probed as to why agency spend continues to increase, Dr Goodall said: “Our use of agency staff across Wales will reflect the pressures within the system.
“There is a justification for using agency staff. Often what it’s reflecting is the fact we have extra capacity and need a greater workforce in the system.
“But we have still got more NHS nurses than ever employed across the NHS in Wales.
“We are now at over 33,000 nursing staff who are in post.”
Dr Goodall said the Welsh NHS is making good progress in transforming the health and social care sector through the Welsh Government’s 10-year strategy, ‘A Healthier Wales’. He said there are also new preventative models of care being developed in different regions of Wales, along with a significant investment in digital technology.
He added: “We are 18 months into the 10-year [A Healthier Wales] plan, and I think what we have tried to do through the budget arrangements is to make sure we are laying foundations for benefits that I hope will