03 March 2006
NHS trusts' financial planning was in disarray this week as an embarrassed Department of Health was forced to withdraw the 2006/07 price list used in payment by results.
With less than a month until the new financial year, English trusts are unable to agree contracts and plan for a year when payment by results will be expanded and the NHS is expected to recover its financial balance.
The decision has also affected the timetable for the authorisation of foundation trusts. Only four mental health trusts, which are not yet part of the PBR initiative, will be considered on April 1.
A letter has been sent to all trusts, admitting errors in the original tariff calculations and promising a revised price list 'at the earliest opportunity'.
A DoH spokesman said: 'Health services are complicated, and calculation of a tariff to pay for these is necessarily a complex process. We will undertake further testing, and publish the corrected tariff as soon as practicable.'
Foundation trust regulator Monitor said it could not now authorise any of the six applicants that operate PBR on April 1. When the revised tariff is published, it will ask all affected candidates, including the 15 that were due to be authorised on July 1, for updated financial projections. The trusts due to be authorised in April will now learn their fate on June 1; the others two months later.
Southend Hospitals trust, one of the trusts now hoping for June authorisation, said the news was a setback. Finance director Brian Shipley said financial models would have to be amended once the revised tariff was published. 'I am not sure when that will be. All our recent financial planning work has been in vain,' he added.
PFmar2006
