Tuesday, February 20, 2007

NHS deficits progress report due



The government is due to announce what progress the NHS in England has made towards balancing its books by the end of the financial year.

It will use Strategic Health Authority data for April to December to predict what the NHS's financial position will be on 31 March.

Health Secretary Patricia Hewitt has pledged the NHS as a whole will end the year without debt.

But half-yearly figures suggested a £94m shortfall in NHS funds.

That compares with a predicted £18m surplus three months in to the financial year.

Belt-tightening

Hospitals and primary care trusts, which are local health bodies in charge of community services such as GPs, accumulate the biggest debts.

But their financial problems are likely to be offset by funds from strategic health authorities' training and public health budgets.

HERE WE GO AGAIN..........ROBBING TRAINING AND OTHER BUDGETS TO PAY FOR DEBT, SAME OLD NHS TACTIC...............AND IT WILL SAVE PATRICIA HEWITT'S FACE AFTER SHE DECLAREDTHE NHS WILL BALANCE THE BOOKS, NOT SO MS HEWITT JUST ANOTHER EXERCISE IN MASSAGING THE FIGURES................GET REAL AND LET THE PEOPLE RUN THE NHS.................