Here’s the stark reality ministers need to capture on board: the health service needs at least £4bn more a year between now and 2020 to avoid disasterIf you’ve been moved by the remarkable real-life human stories and the heroics of the hospital team on the Channel 4 series 24 Hours in A&E,then you may be surprised to know that behind the scenes at St George’s in Tooting, where the series is filmed, or this mighty hospital is battling with an unprecedented financial shortfall. It is not alone. The NHS is heading for a real smash,and practically everyone running a hospital knows it. Hospitals are at 100% capacity at the moment – and the onset of winter could be a nightmare. But beyond this, an accelerating financial disaster is in progress.
Two years ago a quarter of hospitals recorded deficits final year, and this rose to half. This year,three–quarters of hospitals are running deficits, some of them extremely large – and 90%, and including St George’s University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust,of which I am chairman, expect to be in deficit by the terminate of the year. Hardened professionals who have worked in the service for decades have never seen anything like it.
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Source: theguardian.com