The NHS in England made a surplus of £1.5bn (€1.7bn; $2.4bn) last year, but around a quarter of acute trusts have been rated as having weak financial arrangements, according to a report from the national public spending watchdog.

An Audit Commission report published on 11 August says that trusts managed to make savings through a combination of improving clinical productivity—including managing demand, reducing length of stay, moving to day case surgery or outpatient treatments, and bed closures—and reducing workforce costs.

Substantial savings came from the 7274 redundancies and resignations in the financial year 2010-11 from NHS organisations, most of …