BMJ  2006;333:821 (21 October), doi:10.1136/bmj.333.7573.821

News

NHS chief admits to errors in costing of pay reform

London

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

The government miscalculated the full cost of the pay reforms in the NHS, its chief executive admitted to MPs this week.

Mr Nicholson was giving evidence to the House of Commons Committee of Public Accounts as part of its one-off inquiry into the National Audit Office and Audit Commission report Financial Management in the NHS, which was published in June.

"As far as the department is concerned we could be better at costing some of our policies," he said. "There are some examples of policies we have costed that in practice have for a whole variety of reasons cost more."

This included the reforms of the pay system, he added. But although financial problems in the NHS had worsened in recent years NHS finances had become increasingly transparent.

The committee's chairman, the Conservative MP Edward Leigh, highlighted the report's concerns about financial management capabilities at 30% of NHS organisations.

. . . [Full text of this article]

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