30.10.14
NHS finance directors pessimistic about health service finances
A new report from the King’s Fund highlights the pessimistic outlook of NHS finance directors as the think tank forecasts a “challenging winter” for the health service.
In a survey conducted for its latest quarterly monitoring report, 91% of trust finance directors said they were ‘very’ or ‘fairly’ pessimistic about the financial state of the health and care economy in their area over the coming year – the highest level recorded since the quarterly survey began in 2011.
Nearly half (47%) of those surveyed identified staff morale as one of their top three concerns, twice as many as in the previous quarter. The report suggests this should be a significant cause for concern given the close link between staff engagement and quality of care.
The other two leading concerns are delays in patient transfers, which have increased by 17.5%, and hitting A&E waiting time targets – 5% of patients spent four or more hours in A&E over the quarter, the highest level at this time of year for a decade.
Hospital treatment for inpatients and cancer treatment also missed waiting times targets, despite £930m of additional government funding to improve waiting times and ease pressures in A&E.
Nearly 40% of trust finance directors are forecasting a deficit by the end of the year, again the highest proportion since the survey began. Worryingly, nearly 60% are also concerned about whether their trust will be able to meet its cost improvement target for the current year, suggesting that it is getting more difficult to find efficiency savings.
CCGs have a more optimistic outlook, with around 70% of CCG finance leads surveyed expecting to end the year in surplus. It remains to be seen whether these surpluses will be enough to balance the predicted overspend among NHS providers and enable the Department of Health to balance its books at the end of the year.
Richard Murray, director of policy at The King's Fund said: “The NHS relies on the dedication of its staff, so the growing concern about staff morale is worrying. Given the close association between staff engagement and quality of care, this is a warning sign that should be taken seriously by NHS leaders. The number of trusts forecasting deficits indicates that financial problems are no longer confined to a small number of organisations and are now endemic across the health system. At this time of year, A&E waiting times should be well within target range, so the fact that they are continuing to miss the 5 per cent target is also a significant cause for concern.”
A Department of Health spokesperson said: "We know the NHS is under pressure but the vast majority of people continue to be seen and treated quickly. We've increased the NHS budget by £12.7bn over this Parliament and expect NHS trusts to have a strong grip on their finances. We know staff are working hard to provide safe high quality care, which goes hand in hand with saving money.”
Tell us what you think – have your say below or email [email protected]