To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they expect the National Health Service to operate at a deficit for 2014; and what assessment they have made of the impact of any such deficit on performance.
Answered on
4 December 2014
The Department group contains almost five hundred separate National Health Service organisations. The Department is required to contain the total spending of all of those organisations within a set of financial controls operated by HM Treasury and approved by Parliament. Despite significant pressures, the Department expects to contain spending within these financial controls in 2014-15.
Alongside financial balance, maintaining performance against waiting time standards is a priority for the Government. The NHS is experiencing unprecedented demand for its services from a growing, ageing population with complex health needs which is making delivery of consistently high quality, timely care within its budget ever more challenging. Performance against a range of quality measures remains high but some patients are not receiving treatment as soon as the Government would like. Robust year-round operational resilience planning and performance management, backed by additional funding, is in place to help the NHS recover performance against waiting time standards in 2014-15.