NHS ‘to run out of cash’ by 2020 as hard-up hospital trusts see their deficits soar by 185 per cent in just one year
It came as MPs accused health officials of making “unrealistic assumptions” about fixing the £22bn funding gap
THE NHS is on the verge of “complete financial collapse” by 2020, MPs declared yesterday after another damning report revealed its finances were unsustainable.
The National Audit Office revealed Government efficiency targets were making deficits worse in trusts as they rocketed by a staggering 185 per cent over the last year.
Their highly critical report described the financial chaos in the NHS as “endemic” revealing bean counters were forced to transfer almost £1bn from capital building and IT projects to pay for day-to-day spending.
It came as MPs accused health officials of making “unrealistic” and “pie in the sky assumptions” about fixing the £22bn funding gap.
National Audit Office chief Amyas Morse said more than two-thirds of trusts were in deficit in 2015 and many more were struggling as he branded the status quo “unsustainable”.
He said: “It is fair to say aggressive efficiency targets have helped to swell the ranks of trusts in deficit over the last few years.”
Last night Public Accounts Committee Chair and Labour MP Meg Hillier said: “Again, I call on the Prime Minister to address the realities of increasing deficits in NHS trusts, long-term workforce problems, unrealistic efficiency targets and the impact these financial stresses are having on the quality of services.”
Labour’s shadow health secretary Jonathan Ashworth called the spending watchdog’s report “absolutely damning” as he urged the Government to act on its findings.
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He said: “They are very clear that it is this Government’s ‘aggressive efficiency targets’ which have contributed to the disastrous deficits in the NHS and that the current financial trends are just not sustainable.
“They are also clear that the financial pressure is affecting access to services and the quality of care patients are receiving. This cannot go on.”
Veteran Labour MP Frank Field called for a penny to be added to National Insurance contributions saying the NHS faces a “gobsmacking” £56billion black hole over the next five years.
He said: “Britain’s health and social care services are staring into the abyss. The path they are on now leads only to a complete financial collapse by 2020.
“An immediate penny increase in National Insurance contributions – a move which goes with the grain of voters’ wishes – would see the NHS through this five-year period of intensive care.”
Janet Davies of the Royal College of Nursing added: “It is impossible to maintain patient care of the same quality when budgets have been salami-sliced over a period of years.
“This dire financial situation is bad on paper, but it also reflects the reality patients are experiencing, with longer waiting times and queues for urgent care.
“It is especially worrying that the NHS has been forced into the short term solution of taking money out of capital projects simply to keep operating.
“This option will not be there in the long term, but the demands on the service will continue to grow.”