Skip navigation | Accessibility and accesskey details | Sitemap

NHS Summarised Accounts

• report (205 Kb)
• executive summary (49Kb)

We are responsible for the audit of the summarised accounts for the NHS, which comprise separate summarised accounts for NHS Trusts, health authorities, Funds held on Trust, each of the special health authorities and the Dental Practice Board. Our audit draws primarily on the work of your own external auditors, appointed by the Audit Commission. However, we also report annually on key issues related to the various accounts. The latest 1998-99 summarised accounts covered the following topics:

the overall financial performance of the NHS, highlighting that:

• 48 of the 100 health authorities reported a deficit for 1998-99, the same number as for 1997-98. Health Authorities in aggregate reported a surplus of £18 million but the forecast is for a £80 million deficit by the second quarter of 1999-2000;
• 98 of the 402 Trusts reported a deficit for 1998-99, compared with 149 of the 425 Trusts in 1997-98. The aggregate 1998-99 net deficit was £36 million, with a forecast deficit of £117 million by the second quarter of 1999-2000; and
• the financial performance reported by both health authorities and NHS Trusts in 1998-99 would have been adversely affected had the Treasury not allowed departure from generally accepted accounting practices;

progress in countering fraud in the NHS:

• work to date of the NHS Directorate of Counter-Fraud Services aims to introduce trained anti-fraud specialists in each NHS organisation, and regional & national teams;
• targets are in place for the Directorate, culminating in reporting on the level of fraud in the NHS early in 2001;

liabilities of the NHS for clinical negligence:

• the potential liability for clinical negligence was reported at £2.4 billion by the end of March 1999, an increase of £0.6 billion from the previous year. However, the value of incidents incurred but not reported, which are excluded from this £2.4 billion, may now be below the previous estimate of £1 billion; and

developments in accounting and internal control. The main issues raised were that:

• there were a number of important areas in which, with Treasury approval, accounting practice in the NHS diverged from UK generally accepted practice. We were therefore pleased to note that, subject to operational assurances, future NHS accounting will be overseen by the Financial Reporting Advisory Board; and
• more NHS Trusts and health authorities met all of the minimum internal financial control standards in 1998-99 than in 1997-98, and we welcomed the further developments to provide wider assurance on risk management and organisational controls in 1999-2000.

For further information contact Sid Sidhu on 020 7798 7489 or email him through our enquiries desk, please mark your email for his attention.

Return to Introduction