Short term fixes have made parts of NHS financially unstable, auditors warn

NHS trusts are increasingly relying on short term measures, including one-off savings, to meet yearly financial targets, the National Audit Office (NAO) has warned.

In two reports published on 5 February, the public spending watchdog looked at the NHS’s financial and operational performance1 and how the NHS capital budget, which goes towards replacing and maintaining equipment and buildings, was being used.2

It found that the government had transferred £4.3bn (€5.1bn; $5.6bn) from capital to revenue budgets in the past five years, to cope with daily …