Surplus to requirements, by Sally Gainsbury

Surplus to requirements, by Sally Gainsbury (PF 12/10/07)

Financial turnaround in NHS. Achieved with large non-recurrent items e.g. contingency fund of education and public health funds NHS-wide, W. Cheshire PCT used partnership surpluses and funding and a grant from the SHA to achieve a surplus.

Asylum-seeker backlog remains but new system ‘fit for purpose’

Asylum-seeker backlog remains but new system ‘fit for purpose’ (PF 31/8/07)

New systems at the Border and Immigration Agency in place to deal with backlog of asylum seekers brought to light in the foreign prisoner scandal at the Home Office. ‘Egregious event’ discovery of failure.

Time for intensive care? By Seamus Ward

Time for intensive care? By Seamus Ward (PF 6/1/06)

Turnaround teams in the NHS to deal with high profile deficits. Highlights role of external bodies in failing public services.

Also contrast short-term measures (e.g. holding vacancies, redundancies, service re-organisation) with long-term solutions (e.g. moving to day-surgery, reducing emergency demand, identifying and addressing bottlenecks.) Focus on process rather than aggregation. Outsourcing of corporate functions – SBS.

Surrey trust plans hospital takeover

Surrey trust plans hospital takeover (FT 2/8/07)

Frimley Park and ASP to merge. ASP was in financial failure but has returned to surplus. Moves would cement this and address clinical issues rather than financial ones.