NHS trusts' deficit estimated at £2.3 billion as NHS financial crisis deepens

NHS trusts' deficit estimated at £2.3 billion as NHS financial crisis deepens NHS trusts are forecasting an end-of-year net deficit of around £2.3 billion finds the latest quarterly monitoring report from The King’s Fund. The estimate, based on survey responses from 83 trusts, comes as NHS national bodies are imposing stringent financial controls in an effort to reduce the deficit to £1.8 billion by the end of the financial year. This underlines the risk that the Department of Health will breach parliamentary protocol by overspending its budget.

The regular survey of NHS finance directors carried out for the report also highlights increasing concerns about quality of care as the financial crisis deepens. For the first time since the survey began in 2011, more than half of trust finance directors (53 per cent) said that quality of care in their local area has worsened in the past year. Nearly as many (48 per cent) clinical commissioning group finance leads agreed. The King's Fund

See also:

• The story behind the figures: what NHS finance directors are telling us The King's Fund
• Health service finances 'getting worse' BBC News
• NHS finance directors warn care deteriorating as budgets are squeezed The Independent
• NHS: General practice also suffering from cash crisis, experts argue The Independent
• NHS providing poorer care as funding crisis deepens, says survey The Guardian
• General practice key to survival of NHS, say experts OnMedica