Turnaround consultants heading to more struggling trusts

NHS Improvement said the first wave of its financial improvement programme, in which consultancy firms were paid £25m to work with 16 providers last year, had identified £100m of efficiency savings.

Another group of trusts will now be sought to work with the firms, which could include PwC, EY, McKinsey, SSG Health, Grant Thornton, Deloitte and KPMG.

When asked what the budget would be, NHS Improvement said there is no specific budget as trusts will contract with the firms themselves.

On Friday, HSJ asked the regulator to provide its analysis of the return on investment for the first wave of the programme, but nothing has been received so far.

An NHS Improvement spokesman said: “The programme is voluntary and the decision to contract or not will be taken by the trust at the end of the procurement process.

“As such there is no central budget for the programme. The procurement process is, however, being run centrally as we believe we can offer procurement expertise, better rates through procuring multiple contracts, and assistance with scoping and contract managing the work…

“It is worth noting that the spend on [the first wave of trusts] achieved a return on investment many times the fees paid.”