NHS Trusts: Standards

(asked on 12th October 2018) - View Source

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 9 October to Question 174063 on NHS Trusts: Standards, what assessment his Department has made of the underlying causes of the increase in deficits of NHS trusts, and if he will make a statement.


Answered by
Steve Barclay Portrait
Steve Barclay
Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
This question was answered on 23rd October 2018

Fewer trusts are in deficit, the size of those deficits are down (compared to 2015-16). But problems in a minority of trusts do still exist, and tackling that challenge is key to the success of the National Health Service’s plan.

The underlying deficit for NHS trusts is exclusively an NHS Improvement-derived measure as set out in their NHS annual planning guidance. We agree that calculating a baseline position is a useful technique for organisations to build a credible plan for the year. As stated in the audited Departmental 2017/18 Annual Accounts, NHS providers reported an aggregate deficit of just under £1 billion in 2017-18, however this overall deficit, the size of individual deficits and the number of trusts reporting a deficit have all significantly improved since 2015-16 and the NHS financial reset.

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