The King’s Fund quarterly monitoring report, out yesterday, found 52% of 244 FDs across England believed they would end 2017-18 in deficit.
It also concluded 32% of trust finance directors survey were ‘fairly or very concerned’ about meeting financial targets they agreed with national NHS bodies.
The survey, which was conducted between 8 January 2018 and 5 February 2018, concluded 63% of finance directors believed that patient care in their local area had worsened, with only 4% noticing an improvement.
Niall Dickson, chief executive of the NHS Confederation said: “The impact of this winter and the financial crisis gripping the health and care services throughout England is now clear and it is time to focus on the solutions - we need long-term funding commitments, we need a reformed system that joins up different parts of a fragmented system, and we need politicians to wake up to the reality of what is happening.”
The pressure on NHS services continues to rise with admissions to A&E increasing by 6.8% in January 2018 compared to the same time last year, The King’s Fund highlighted.
Richard Murray, director of policy at The King’s Fund, said: “Our latest quarterly monitoring report underlines the heroic efforts of NHS staff to keep care standards high in the face of unprecedented pressure on services.”
Waiting times for routine treatments, which are supposed to be started within 18 weeks, have also increased.
In December 2017, 12% of people waited longer than 18 weeks for routine treatments - this is the highest percentage of delays since March 2009.
The number of patients waiting more than four hours to be seen in A&E rose to 81,003 in October to December last year, and 1,043 waited more than 12 hours - both of which are record numbers.
Murray added: “The waiting time standards should not be abandoned but the NHS needs to ensure the way they are implemented does not leave patients who are not treated within the time limits facing long waits for treatment.”
