The Pharmaceutical Journal
Vol 277 No 7409 p67
15 July 2006

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Financial failures of NHS trusts share common causes

Financial failure of NHS trusts cannot be separated from wider organisational failures, an Audit Commission report has concluded.

“Learning the lessons from financial failure in the NHS” looks at the 25 NHS bodies that were subject to public interest reports in 2005–06. Financial failures in them were the result of a common set of causes, the report argues, including inadequate leadership (particularly in the posts of chief executive and finance director), lack of cohesion at board level, distractions caused by short-term projects and the disengagement of senior clinicians.

However, the Audit Commission believes that the road to recovery lies in simply reversing these areas of weakness. “The reintroduction of sound governance, financial, corporate and clinical, following a failure can result in an improvement in patient care,” its report says.