NHS 'dodged surplus' through spending spree

Expensive NHS purchases 'rushed through'

Tuesday, 27, May 2008 12:00

NHS financial managers sought to avoid another heavy spending surplus by recommending rushed equipment purchases before the end of the tax year, a newspaper has claimed.

The Times reports many trusts were told to make the purchases "as long as they could be invoiced before March".

Final figures for the last tax year are yet to be released but those for 2006/07 showed a £515 million surplus, a response to the £547 million deficit seen the previous year.

Then health secretary Patricia Hewitt faced accusations of government mismanagement over the deficit but it now appears efforts to reverse the problem have resulted in the current surplus.

"Thanks to the efforts of NHS staff over the last year and half we now has a strong and sustainable financial position, but also — importantly — we remain on course to deliver against our key pledges," a Department of Health (DoH) spokesperson said.

"The NHS and its staff have managed to achieve all of this at the same time as cutting waiting lists to their lowest ever. NHS organisations are bound by strict accounting practices are subject to a full audit at the end of the year."