THE region’s health service is sitting on more than £230m, according to Government figures released yesterday.
According to the Department of Health, NHS North West, the strategic health body which co-ordinates health provision across the region, will record a surplus of £230,269,000 by the end of the financial year.
That is up from £46,288,000 at the end of the 2005/06 financial year and £206,355,000 at the end of the last financial year.
David Nicholson, Chief Executive of the NHS said: “The figures show the NHS now has a strong and sustainable financial position, but also - importantly, it shows that we remain on course to deliver against our key pledges.” But the figures come against a backdrop of patients being denied treatment and hospitals making cuts in Merseyside.
North Cheshire Hospitals NHS Trust, which covers Warrington and Halton hospitals, has had to save £17m, with 300 posts scrapped and 180 beds axed.
Southport and Ormskirk Hospital has had to try and clear a £15m debt, and a turnaround team sent in by the Government suggested one saving it could make was to reduce its cleaning budget.
Health chiefs refused and instead opted for other savings, but it has shed 139 jobs over the year, with 41 redundancies – only 17 of them voluntary. It also considered a plan to shift some clerical work to Asia to save costs.
Across Merseyside, almost 600 fewer people were employed within the NHS at the end of 2006 than at the start of it.
And last year, the Daily Post revealed how more than 70 people in the region had been denied potentially life-enhancing drug treatments because specialist panels at primary care trusts had refused to pay for them.
When deciding whether or not to fund the treatment, the PCT panels examine potential benefit against cost.
The predicted underspend was first reported by the Daily Post last year, but the final £230m figure was only released yesterday.
At the time, Mike Farrar, chief executive of NHS NorthWest, said: “The NHS’s financial position in the North West is extremely strong, which is really good news for patients, the public and NHS staff. The NHS in the North West spent nearly £10bn on healthcare in the last financial year. This year, that budget has increased by £878m.
“The surplus so far reported represents just 2% of our budget, and indicates how stable finances are in our region. This is partly created by primary care trusts reserving funds for investing in projects earmarked in the next financial year. Financial turn-around on this scale is unprecedented in the NHS. We have achieved this while improving services and cutting wait times.”
davidhiggerson
