Will NHS England and NHS Improvement plans help to eliminate the 2018/19 deficit work?
NHS England and NHS Improvement are planning to eliminate the provider deficit of £519m, forecast in previous operating plans for 2018/19, in time for quarter two reporting.
The plans aim for the commissioning sector to deliver £265m of underspend at the end of month five; the target for providers is £254m.
NHS England figures show the commissioner sector overall has achieved balanced plans for the year so far. Some 29 clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) have year-to-date overspends offset by underspends on direct commissioning and NHS England central budgets. All CCGs are forecasting that any overspends will be recovered by the end of the financial year.
Providers overspent by £87m against plan in the period to month four, offset by uncommitted provider sustainability fund money of £74m, reducing the overall overspend against plan to £13m.
Providers have delivered efficiency savings of £723m up to month four, £83m below planned efficiency savings.
Further information
NHS England: Financial performance reports
NHS England: NHS England and NHS Improvement board meetings in common ― agenda and papers ― 27 September 2018
Wilmington: NHS Improvement reveals first quarter provider finances