Health Services: Tyne and Wear

(asked on 12th October 2017) - View Source

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what recent assessment he has made of the financial sustainability of NHS services in (a) Tyne and Wear and (b) South Tyneside.


Answered by
Philip Dunne Portrait
Philip Dunne
This question was answered on 20th October 2017

The National Health Service leadership bodies have developed their own plan for delivering financial balance and sustainability for the NHS. We support that plan and have invested in the NHS to do so, with funding set to increase by £8 billion per year by 2020-21 compared to 2015-16. But it is for local leaders in Sustainability and Transformation Partnership (STP) areas, working together with NHS England and NHS Improvement, to deliver against their own plans to achieve financial sustainability.

We are keenly aware that local issues exist within the national plan, but as with all public services, local NHS areas need to live within their means. NHS England and NHS Improvement will continue to work with areas to balance their financial plans.

Progress is being made. The NHS has worked hard to manage its finances in a challenging period, reporting significant improvements compared to previous years. Nationally, the overall deficit, the size of individual deficits and the number of trusts reporting a deficit, are all significantly down.

We are advised that the financial position of the Northumberland, Tyne and Wear and North Durham STP footprint (which includes both South Tyneside NHS Foundation Trust and the broader Tyne and Wear region) is deteriorating versus 2016-17, although Northumberland, Tyne and Wear NHS Foundation Trust and Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust are predicted to maintain a substantial, if reduced, surplus.

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