How does King’s deficit compare with forecasts?
London’s King’s College Hospital Trust is expected to end the 2017/18 financial year with a deficit of around £120m after beginning the year with a forecast deficit of £40m.
Health Service Journal editors reported that the teaching trust’s most recent board papers reported a deficit of £97.6m at the end of January, some£13.1m worse than in December.
The trust is in special measures.
Trust spokesmen would not confirm what year-end deficit position it had agreed with NHS Improvement, HSJunderstands it is likely to be around £120m.
Trusts usually have their deficits approved by NHS Improvement and covered by bailouts from the Department of Health and Social Care. This is said to be the first time a trust has officially ended a financial year with a deficit of more than £100m.
King’s chief executive Nick Moberly is to leave the trust next month.
- Another trust that has failed to include a forecast end of year result in recent financial reporting is Barking, Havering and Redbridge University Hospitals Trust, which is also in financial special measures. The trust is in dispute with local clinical commissioning groups, and the matter is being considered by NHS England arbitrators. In November, HSJ reported that the invoices being challenged have a value of £20m