Today comes the news that an NHS Trust has become 'bankrupt'. It has been losing money at the rate of £1 million per week for the last three years, meaning that it now has debts of £150 million (yes I know that the rules of mathematics have been broken, but just run with it.). When the NHS was set up, believe it or not, those involved thought that expenditure would shrink as the health of the population improved. Instead it has ballooned to its present levels. We are told that the South East London NHS Trust has some of the best mortality rates and lowest infection rates in the country. Is that going to be put at risk by the NHS Administrators who will try to turn this Trust around so that it is financially stable? Several teams of managers have been tried, and none of them have managed to stop the hemorrhage of funds. So what is the solution? The usual solution to problems of this nature is to cut expenditure, which inevitably means a cut in the services you provide. This could mean the figures that the Trust are so rightly proud of are under threat. The Tories have blamed Labour as there was a PFI initiative to re-build two of the hospitals which take away £61 million which equates to 14% of the Budget (using the rules of maths means that the total budget is over £450 million!). The obvious reason for pointing this out is that without this debt, the Trust would be running with a £60 million profit! However, they would have to look after the hospitals they had before they were replaced, and they must have been replaced for a reason!
What is the solution?
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