What to do with insolvent hospitals: Will politicians allow providers to fail?

doi:10.1136/bmj.39277.790775.2C

BMJ 2007;335:170 (28 July), doi:10.1136/bmj.39277.790775.2C

Editorials

What to do with insolvent hospitals

Will politicians allow providers to fail?

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

The progress made by the NHS in England in converting a netdeficit of £547m ( ${euro}$ 812m; $1121m) in 2005-6 into a net surplusof £510m in 2006-7 has given the government a breathingspace. Yet behind the headline figures lies a picture that ismore complex and promises to become more troubling as the programmeof health reform gathers pace.

The net surplus in 2006-7 resulted from a gross deficit of £911mand a gross surplus of £1421m.¹ Moreover, the gross deficitwas concentrated in a small number of organisations, some ofwhich face financial difficulties that cannot be easily resolved.To address these difficulties the Department of Health is workingwith strategic health authorities to identify long term solutions,focusing on 17 NHS trusts with the greatest challenges.

The experience of converting deficits into surpluses has shownthat there are three main approaches to dealing with NHS providers. . . [Full text of this article]

Chris Ham, professor of health policy and management

University of Birmingham, Birmingham B15 2RT

c.j.ham@bham.ac.uk

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