{"id":3895,"date":"2017-02-21T13:00:58","date_gmt":"2017-02-21T13:00:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.medic8.com\/news\/?p=3895"},"modified":"2017-02-28T11:10:15","modified_gmt":"2017-02-28T11:10:15","slug":"nhs-trusts-rack-up-900-million-deficit-over-winter-months-9541","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.medic8.com\/news\/nhs-trusts-rack-up-900-million-deficit-over-winter-months-9541\/","title":{"rendered":"NHS trusts rack up \u00a3900 million deficit over winter months-9541"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"shutterstock_558958570-6737\"<\/a>NHS trusts have racked up a deficit of almost \u00a3900 million over the course of the winter months, it has been revealed. During the first 9 months of the new financial year, trusts have overspent as a result of treating more patients than planned over the winter.<\/p>\n

New figures show that increasing demand for NHS services has contributed to a significant overspend, despite the fact that additional funding was made available to try and reduce the deficit accumulated in 2015\/2016. Hospitals were fuller than anticipated with more patients comes through the door than expected, and there were also issues related to discharging patients and freeing up beds. In many instances, a lack of community support and resources were available to send patients home, and this has cost the NHS dearly, according to the watchdog NHS Improvement.<\/p>\n

The figures cover hospitals, in addition to mental health<\/a> services, ambulance and community health services. GP treatment, public health services, medication<\/a> and training costs are covered by a separate budget. Most of the deficit was linked to hospital services.<\/p>\n

In a statement accompanying the figures, NHS Improvement\u2019s chief executive, Jim Mackey, stated that we were living in \u201cincredibly challenging times.\u201d Waiting times for A and E units have increased and 9 out of 10 hospitals in England are overcrowded.<\/p>\n

There are hopes that the deficit will be reduced slightly by the end of the financial year. However, a shortfall of \u00a3750 million and \u00a3850 million is predicted.<\/p>\n

The figures may seem alarming, but they are half the value of those presented at this time last year. The Government provided a one-off \u00a31.8 billion fund to plug the enormous deficit accrued last year, but there are fears that similar cash injections will not be available in the future.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

NHS trusts have racked up a deficit of almost \u00a3900 million over the course of the winter months, it has been revealed. During the first 9 months of the new financial year, trusts have overspent as a result of treating more patients than planned over the winter. New figures show that increasing demand for NHS […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":888008809,"featured_media":3897,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[75],"tags":[2577,2578,1030,331],"class_list":["post-3895","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general-health","tag-deficit","tag-financial-crisis","tag-hospitals","tag-nhs"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t