New regime revealed for trusts with biggest financial holes

The 30 worst financially performing NHS trusts will be subject to a new regulatory regime as part of plans to bring the provider sector into the black by 2020-21.

According to the NHS long-term plan, NHS Improvement will deploy an “accelerated turnaround process” for the 30 trusts which combined account for the net total of the trust provider deficit.

The provider deficit after the second quarter of 2018-19 stood at £1.23bn.

The long-term plan also confirmed the creation of a new “financial recovery fund”, which is expected to lead to the number of trusts reporting a deficit in 2019-20 to be reduced by more than a half. The NHS is aiming for all its organisations to be out of the red by 2023-24.

Full story on HSJ, 7 January 2019