NHS forecasts financial surplus

The Department of Health (DoH) has announced that the NHS is forecasting a financial surplus for the financial year 2007/08 with the majority of NHS trusts in balance.

Latest NHS finance figures for the first six months of the year show that the NHS is forecasting a surplus of 1.8 billion pounds for this financial year compared to a deficit of 547 million pounds at the end of 2005/06.

The DoH has indicated that the surplus represents a small proportion of the overall NHS budget at just 2.3 per cent, but the money would be spent on further improving services and patient care.

Gross deficit for the health service has fallen from 204 million pounds in the first quarter to 201 million pounds for the second quarter.

Health secretary Alan Johnson suggested that the figures represented a more efficient NHS which was generating a surplus while improving performance.

“This position gives individual trusts the flexibility and resources to plan for the long-term and provide better care for patients,” he added.

Improvements to patient care have also been highlighted by the latest figures with 98 per cent of patients offered GP appointments within two working days in the second quarter of 2007/08.

This week, the DoH has announced that under-doctored areas in England are to receive new GP practices as part of government plans to deal with long-existing disparities in the provision of family doctors nationwide.