The Isle of Wight NHS Trust will have more than £90million worth of debt written off by the government, in a financial reset, to help NHS Trusts cope during the coronavirus outbreak.
Health Secretary Matt Hancock announced earlier this month that more than £13billion of historic NHS debt will be scrapped across the country as part of wider reforms to combat pressures Trusts are currently facing and helping become financially sustainable afterwards.
Part of the measure has wiped the debt of the Isle of Wight NHS Trust, from the end of the 2019/20 financial year. Figures from the department of health and social care show £90,925,000 in interim revenue (day-to-day) debt, which includes working capital loans.
Mr Hancock said the NHS will get whatever it needs to face the virus. He said:
“As we tackle this crisis, nobody in our health service should be distracted by their hospital’s past finances.
“Today’s £13.4 billion debt write off will wipe the slate clean and allow NHS hospitals to plan for the future and invest in vital services.
“I remain committed to providing the NHS with whatever it needs to tackle coronavirus, and the changes to the funding model will give the NHS immediate financial certainty to plan and deliver their emergency response.”
How can anyone can be said to be running a business that is £90m in the red.
Easiest thing in the world, to ‘spend’ someone else’s cash. Perhaps they can get that cone to revolve now to begin the new run up of debt.
That’s the problem, The NHS is not a business, it’s a service. As long as people see it as a business it will always be in the red ‘free to all at point of access’! The NHS needs to be funded, yes it needs to justify what it spends, but it should not be required to make a profit.
It also just goes to show that non of this debt is real money, just numbers on a spreadsheet. Maybe it’s time to look at where the money goes, (CCG, CQC etc.), and start to put it back to the frontline.
On a side note, does anyone know why the CQC need a central London office (Buckingham Palace Road) I mean, it’s very nice and all that but…
Anyone know where to get the forms to fill in so i can write my debts off to help me cope with coronavirus outbreak
Why wernt the hospitals given this help years ago! Been struggling too capacity with huge waiting lists and no beds yet a temp hospital can be built in 9 days and filled with equipment.our hospitals needed all this extra help long ago.
Camp hill extra refubed beds are now good enough for patients right.
Amazing
Its NOT a £90 Million Pound debt,,It IS £90 million pounds of underfunding over the years