Lesley Griffiths, Minister for Health and Social Services
This was published under the 2011 to 2016 administration of the Welsh Government
I am pleased to announce today all NHS organisations in Wales have met their statutory financial targets for 2011-12. I congratulate Local Health Boards and NHS Trusts on this remarkable achievement given the financial pressures NHS Wales has faced in the last financial year. Achieving financial balance has also been delivered against a pattern of general improvement and maintenance against key delivery priorities.
Provisional figures show all NHS organisations have met their financial targets in 2011-12, making a small combined surplus of £0.5million. Audited figures to confirm the financial position will be available in June.
Last October, I said NHS managers will be held to account for the financial management of their organisations, with strong action taken if financial targets were not achieved.
To end the dependency on year-end financial support, we provided the NHS with an additional £145million in October, with a warning there would be no further support during the financial year.
In addition to coming in on budget, NHS organisations have also delivered £290 million financial savings in-year. This has been delivered whilst maintaining delivery against clinical performance, such as faster stroke treatment and a reduction in emergency re-admissions to hospital.
This was never going to be an easy task and three of the seven Local Health Boards (Aneurin Bevan, Cwm Taf and Powys) have been permitted to bring forward a small percentage of next year’s funding to help meet their targets. The amount brought forward represents only 0.2 per cent of the NHS budget, which I am pleased to say has broken even overall in 2011-12.
As a condition of this flexibility, my officials have commissioned an external financial review of these organisations’ financial plans.
I thank all those concerned for their hard work over the last year which has brought about this excellent result. A solid financial performance has put NHS Wales in the strongest possible position to deliver the improvements, efficiencies and changes which will underpin its success into the future.