NHS (England) summarised accounts 1994-95 : summarised accounts of Health Authorities, Family Health Services Authorities ... for the year ended 31 March 1995, together with the report of the Comptroller and Auditor General thereon ... / [Department of Health].

  • Great Britain. Department of Health.
Date:
1996
Catalogue details

Licence: Open Government Licence

Credit: NHS (England) summarised accounts 1994-95 : summarised accounts of Health Authorities, Family Health Services Authorities ... for the year ended 31 March 1995, together with the report of the Comptroller and Auditor General thereon ... / [Department of Health]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    19 20 21 ard 23 24 some cases, actual net assets differed from those anticipated at the time when the Trust agreed its contract prices and this affected the actual rate of return achieved. e some Trusts were affected by a change in the accounting treatment, in March 1995, for the costs of early retirements. Costs were charged to the income and expenditure account which were not anticipated when contract prices were agreed. For reasons such as these, Trusts may have achieved rates of return below six per cent without reflecting adversely on their managerial performance. In the other 46 cases, however, the NHS Executive concluded that the failures to achieve the target rate of return were not acceptable and reflected adversely on managerial performance. The main reasons for these failures were: e higher levels of expenditure than planned (in some cases due to slippage in cost improvement programmes) (13 Trusts); e lower levels of income than Trusts expected (11 Trusts); e activity levels greater than those contracted for (four Trusts); e unanticipated accounting adjustments (11 Trusts); and e miscellaneous other instances of poor financial management (seven Trusts). In these cases the Regional Offices of the NHS Executive have discussed the reasons for the failures against the target with the Trusts concerned, and agreed action to be taken to ensure that the Trusts are able to meet their targets in future years. In some cases this has involved discussions with the relevant purchasing health authorities. Break even To meet the duty to break even, NHS Trusts must ensure that, taking one year with another, total expenditure, including payments to the Exchequer of dividends and interest on their Originating Capital Debt, does not exceed income received. Trusts may also plan to make a revenue surplus which can be used for capital investment, repayment of loans, or held in Government approved securities. Ninety-one per cent (383) of NHS Trusts broke even or recorded a retained surplus in 1994-95 (92 per cent in 1993-94). Overall, Trusts achieved an operating surplus of £1,059 million and a retained surplus, after dividends and interest, of £179 million. Thirty-six Trusts failed to break even and thus recorded a retained deficit for 1994-95. The deficits ranged from £25,000 to £8,378,000, of which ten exceeded £1,000,000. 29 of these 36 Trusts also failed the rate of return target.