09.09.11
NHS reform savings lower than expected
NHS reforms will save £700m less than originally thought, according to a new impact assessment by the Department of Health. The revised figures came the day after the amended Health & Social Care Bill was passed by the House of Commons.
The original report issued in January calculated savings of £5.2bn over the next five years, which has since been revised to £4.5bn. This is due to reduced administration spending in the baseline year. The savings will also be delayed as Strategic Health Authorites are set to carry on until 2013 instead of 2012.
However, the cost of the transition to clinical commissioning groups will cost £200m less than predicted, due to reduced redundancy costs.
Health Secretary Andrew Lansley said: “The revised Impact Assessment shows that the cost of modernising the NHS is only a fraction of the savings which will result.
“We are cutting waste and are still on track to reduce administrative spend by a third. Every penny saved will be reinvested into patient care, delivering significant long-term benefits to patients.
“Our plans, which have been strengthened by the listening exercise, will both safeguard the future of our NHS and move us closer to a health service that puts patients at the heart of everything it does.
“They ensure that future generations can rely on an NHS that is always there, always improving and always free at the point of use, based on need and not ability to pay.”
The NHS is aiming to save £20bn by 2015.
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