Audit Commission
NHS data skewed by efforts to protect trust finances
The “disproportionate” financial implications of changes to the way the NHS classifies patients have led it to maintain “inaccurate recording and inaccurate payments”, the Audit Commission has reported.
NHS annual reporting 'inaccurate or incomplete'
NHS organisations are presenting an “inaccurate or incomplete” picture in their annual reports, with some failing to disclose the key risks they face, according to a review by auditors Grant Thornton.
GPs overpaid millions for 'ghost patients'
Doctors have received millions of pounds in payment for patients who have moved practice, died or been forced to leave the country, according to a new report.
Trusts facing 'difficult choice' over service provision
NHS trusts face “difficult choices about the services they provide” as they fight to sustain savings programmes of 5 per cent a year, according to a report by Monitor and the Audit Commission.
Rise in PCTs reporting above-average costs
The past financial year saw a sharp rise in the proportion of primary care trusts reporting above-average costs for providing NHS services, new Department of Health figures show.
Primary care spend fell fastest last year - Information Centre
Spending on primary care last year fell more quickly than expenditure on the rest of the NHS, figures from the NHS Information Centre reveal.
Poor NHS cost data will delay national pricing, Audit Commission warns
Costing data in the NHS is too poor to establish fixed national prices for new acute and community services, an Audit Commission review has found.
Quarter of NHS trusts 'have weaknesses in securing financial resilience'
Almost a quarter of NHS trusts have notable weaknesses in their arrangements for securing financial resilience or challenging how they secure value for money, their auditors have warned.
Commissioners 'excessively constraining' patient choice
Commissioners are restricting patient choice and choking competition in routine elective care, the Cooperation and Competition Panel has found.
Data shows mixed results in reducing 'low value' treatments
The NHS has reduced activity related to some “ineffective” treatments, but has not managed to stop the rise in other “low clinical value” procedures, according to data analysed for HSJ.
Auditors to query use of foundations’ resources
A number of foundation trusts are likely to face “qualifications”, querying the accuracy of their 2010-11 accounts, because of questions over their use of resources, auditors have warned.
DH to 'rely' on local pricing to extend community services competition
The Department of Health will be “heavily reliant” on locally set prices to encourage competition from “any qualified provider” in community services, it said this week.
Audit Commission finds social care services improving
Local councils are improving their adult social care but need to pick up the pace, a watchdog has said.
No evidence for money saving potential of community care pathways
A lack of reliable data on the cost of outpatient and community services is hampering commissioners’ attempts to make efficiency savings by moving care out of the acute sector.
Acute trusts' FT plans slip back a year
More than a quarter of the acute trusts still bidding for foundation status have seen their application date slip by over a year.
Trusts set 'unlikely' savings targets for 2011-12
England’s acute trusts have increased the scale of their cost improvement programmes by nearly a third in 2011-12, an HSJ analysis reveals.
MPs told of budget topslicing 'risk'
Providers could face financial difficulties if commissioning consortia decide to topslice their budgets to create risk pools, the Commons health committee has heard.
FT quality reports unreliable, Audit Commission finds
Foundation trust quality accounts are unreliable, with wide variations in the standard of data used, an Audit Commission study has found.
Sick leave 'more likely' in junior staff
Lower paid NHS staff and junior workers are more likely to go off sick than senior colleagues, according to a new report.
Absence savings targets will be hard to achieve, says Audit Commission
NHS organisations should be realistic about the savings they can make by tackling sickness absence, the Audit Commission has said.
More on the Audit Commission
Putting patients in the centre: the whole person approach to integrated care
Seraphim Rose Patel explains, with a colleague, how a whole person, whole system approach can reduce NHS and social care costs.
Safer passage: how care navigators help improve mental health services
The introduction of care navigators has revolutionised services for a London mental health trust’s older patients. Caroline Leveaux and colleagues explain.
A hire price to pay: how leasing equipment saves money and improves service quality
In times of plenty, the financing rules made outright purchase the most obvious source of new investment. But dwindling capital means leasing equipment may improve care quality and finances, say Louise Hamilton and Bob Dredge.
Payment by Results - conference sessions
A business critical briefing from HSJ’s Payment by Results conference.
Payment by Results
A business critical briefing from HSJ’s Payment by Results conference.
Mental health innovation: how to drive quality from pilot to practice
Mental health services are providing the NHS with clear examples of quality and productivity projects that have significant outcomes, says Andy McKeon
