07.03.18
Debt-ridden NHS trusts hit by £180m interest payments on DHSC loans
Struggling NHS trusts are being hit with massive interest payments to the government on top of their own debts, it was revealed this week.
A total of £183m was charged by the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) over three years on bailout loans given to trusts in financial difficulty.
Health minister Stephen Barclay revealed the figures after questioning from shadow health secretary, Jonathan Ashworth, but said the money was not lost to the NHS and is channelled into other sections of the service.
The interest policy was introduced in 2015/16, when Barclay claimed there was a total of £24m paid between trusts and foundation trusts, with £74m paid in 2016/17 and a further £85m in 2017/18.
Although, he explained: “The interest paid is not lost to the NHS. It is paid to the department but is channelled back into the NHS through the annual funding provided to the NHS through the NHS England mandate.”
At the moment, trusts are expected to make initial loan payments of around 3.5%, but this can be reduced to 1.5% if the deals are longer than average.
Generally, trusts that fall into serious financial difficulty will have certain powers taken away by NHS Improvement, with measures set in place to improve their situation.
Most recently, Barking, Havering and Redbridge University Hospitals NHS Trust was slapped with financial special measures, after it reported a “rapid and significant deterioration in its in year finances.”
Top image: jax10289
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