Mistakes in the original procurement and contract management of an IT system, designed to extract data from GP practices, contributed to losses of public funds, through asset write-offs and settlements with suppliers.
The NHS made a substantial amount of efficiency savings in 2011-12. These will need to be sustained and built on if savings targets are to be met.
There is wide variation in the extent to which £79 billion in central funding allocated to local health bodies differs from target allocations that are based on relative need.
• This is NAO’s first report on funding since the 2013 health reforms took effect. Where possible comparisons have been made with funding under the previous system set out in a 2011 NAO report.
Benefits are expected to exceed costs slightly over the life of the systems, but there is uncertainty around whether the benefits will be realised
The NAO has reported on the 2021-22 accounts of the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC).
The NHS delivered a £2.1bn surplus in 2011-12 but there is some financial distress in NHS trusts with some very large deficits.
The Care Quality Commission had a difficult task in establishing itself and has not so far achieved value for money in regulating the quality and safety of health and adult social care in England.
The report finds variations in health outcomes across the four nations, and will help health departments examine how better value for money could be achieved.
The horsemeat incident in January 2013 exposed weaknesses in control in the food supply chain.
Diabetes care in the NHS is poor, with low achievement of treatment standards, high numbers of avoidable deaths and annual spending reaching an estimated £3.9 billion.
Since we first published our Framework to review programmes in 2017 there has been no let-up in NAO reports on major projects and programmes, most recently on Crossrail, the Emergency Services Network and the Stonehenge by-pass road. From the need to manage the risks of untried approaches to signs warning of unrealistic cost estimates, this […]
This report examines the Department for Education’s evaluation of the Children’s Social Care Innovation Programme.
Although new organisations set up as part of the reformed health system were ready to start functioning on time, the transition to the system is not yet complete.
A factual briefing on alcohol treatment services in England, informed by discussions with the Department of Health and Social Care, NHS England, and the Association of Directors of Public Health.
The Department of Health has until recently been focusing on speed of response as a measure of performance of the ambulance service, rather than on clinical outcomes. The service achieves high levels of public satisfaction but there are wide variations in ambulance trusts’ efficiency. The system has not delivered the best value for money to date.
This report highlights risks to value for money associated with the Department of Health’s programme aimed at enabling its staff to take the lead in leaving the NHS to set up health social enterprises. These are independent bodies delivering services, previously provided in-house, under contract to PCTs.
Monitor has achieved value for money in regulating NHS foundation trusts, and has generally been effective in helping trusts in difficulty to improve.
Since 2005, when the Department of Health introduced its National Service Framework for Long-term Conditions, people with neurological conditions have had better access to health services; but key indicators of quality have worsened. The Department does not know what the Framework and additional spending of nearly 40 per cent have achieved.
Although some areas of the NHS in England are achieving value for money for out-of-hours GP services, this is not the case across the board.
Many NHS trusts need to tackle a range of financial, quality and governance issues if they are to meet the standards required of them to become self-governing foundation trusts by 2014. The Department of Health and the NHS will now have to decide how they will deal with those facing the most severe problems.