NHS hospitals post record £1.6bn overspend in first six months of year

NHS hospitals in England posted a record deficit of £1.6bn (€2.3bn; $2.4bn) in the first half of this year, as the financial crisis enveloping the service escalated further.

The sector’s regulators, Monitor and the Trust Development Authority, which published the figures,1 said that the overspend was £358m worse than was planned by the sector at the beginning of the financial year and added that the deficit could reach £2.2bn by the end of the year, if current performance continued.

In total, 190 of England’s 241 NHS trusts and foundation trusts (which include hospital, mental health, ambulance, and some community health trusts) reported a deficit for the second quarter of the year.

The overspend was largely attributed to a …