05.07.12
An end to second chances?
The NAO’s new report demonstrates how the necessary NHS efficiency savings may be far more difficult to achieve than first believed.
With so many trusts running up significant deficits, the Department of Health has had to dole out £1bn in ‘emergency funding’. With many other trusts struggling to manage their budgets, this appears to be something that will have to be repeated over the coming years.
So how can such huge savings be reached when so many of those supposed to contribute are floundering in debt?
The NAO has suggested that there must be a clearer mechanism for when support is the best option and when trusts should be allowed to fail – this is something the NHS has so far avoided, but may now be forced to implement, for the good of the whole service.
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