(9 years, 12 months ago)
Commons Chamber10. How many (a) NHS trusts and (b) foundation trusts are forecasting a deficit.
Thirty-three NHS trusts and 60 foundation trusts are forecasting an end-of-year financial deficit, with the remaining 65 NHS trusts and 87 foundation trusts forecasting an end-of-year surplus.
Earlier this year, Monitor announced that the number of trusts in financial breach had nearly doubled over the previous 12 months. How confident is the Minister that the number will not double again next year?
I am very confident that the measures already in place to drive efficiencies in the NHS are on course to save £20 billion during this Parliament. Many of those efficiencies are being delivered by improved procurement practice at a trust level. The Government have also invested £15 billion during this Parliament, which is a real-terms increase of £5 billion in NHS funding to support trusts.