17 February 2006
Capital funding in the NHS for 2006/07 will increase by 19%, the Department of Health announced on February 15.
The overall capital allocation for the DoH will be £5.2bn — £83m higher than originally planned. Primary care trusts will receive a minimum of a 10% increase in their operational capital, compared with last year.
But none of the funding to PCTs is ring-fenced for the developments outlined in the recent Our health, our care, our say white paper. Nor are PCTs given any dispensation to strategically overspend next year, and balance their books in the next.
David Janner-Klausner, co-ordinator of the Democratic Health Network, told Public Finance that, as PCTs were under constant pressure to divert funds to the acute sector, they could be left with little capital to invest in new community services.
'It's a politically dangerous path', said Janner-Klausner. 'They're going to be inflicting pain on the acute sector through payment by results which they have acknowledged will lead to instability and closures. Yet they're not balancing this out by giving PCTs the flexibility to start up new community-based services.'
In a statement that will be interpreted as a reference to the current controversy around a stalled Private Finance Initiative scheme at Barts and The London NHS Trust, Health Secretary Patricia Hewitt said: 'If the financial situation in some areas dictates that the full programme of investment is not possible in 2006/07, capital funding… will be made available in subsequent years. This allows trusts to plan their finances properly and consider the impact of our recent white paper on their capital investment plans.'
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