By Paul Dicken
2 October 2009
A Welsh NHS trust has become the second to have its debt written off in the shake-up of the health service in Wales.
Health Minister Edwina Hart announced on September 29 that Hywel Dda NHS Trust’s cumulative historic debt of just over £40m had been ‘extinguished’ to allow the new Local Health Board to start work on October 1 with no debt on its books.
Hart said she now expected the newly formed board to live within its financial allocation. Sound budget management was a top priority for the new LHBs, she added.
‘I believe the new simplified organisations with smaller management will mean more funding for frontline services,’ she said.
Welsh Liberal Democrats health spokesman Peter Black said he understood why the debt had been written off, but it was important that all local health boards should begin work on a ‘level playing field’.
‘The minister should therefore offer the same debt write-off to all the new LHBs as well as the Welsh Ambulance Service NHS Trust, who are struggling to meet their targets while facing having to knock £40m off their budgets over two years,’ he said.
The debt attached to Hywel Dda trust was the total figure from the three trusts that merged to create it: Camarthenshire NHS Trust, Ceredigion, and Pembrokeshire & Derwen.
The trust – established on April 1, 2008 – broke even in 2008/09, which was the criterion for debt cancellation. This followed a similar move for North Wales NHS Trust earlier this year. The trust had to record a surplus to have its £7m debt cancelled.
2 October 2009
A Welsh NHS trust has become the second to have its debt written off in the shake-up of the health service in Wales.
Health Minister Edwina Hart announced on September 29 that Hywel Dda NHS Trust’s cumulative historic debt of just over £40m had been ‘extinguished’ to allow the new Local Health Board to start work on October 1 with no debt on its books.
Hart said she now expected the newly formed board to live within its financial allocation. Sound budget management was a top priority for the new LHBs, she added.
‘I believe the new simplified organisations with smaller management will mean more funding for frontline services,’ she said.
Welsh Liberal Democrats health spokesman Peter Black said he understood why the debt had been written off, but it was important that all local health boards should begin work on a ‘level playing field’.
‘The minister should therefore offer the same debt write-off to all the new LHBs as well as the Welsh Ambulance Service NHS Trust, who are struggling to meet their targets while facing having to knock £40m off their budgets over two years,’ he said.
The debt attached to Hywel Dda trust was the total figure from the three trusts that merged to create it: Camarthenshire NHS Trust, Ceredigion, and Pembrokeshire & Derwen.
The trust – established on April 1, 2008 – broke even in 2008/09, which was the criterion for debt cancellation. This followed a similar move for North Wales NHS Trust earlier this year. The trust had to record a surplus to have its £7m debt cancelled.
