Funding for ongoing health care is a complex and highly sensitive area, which can affect some of the most vulnerable people in society and those that care for them.
Government does not know how many people in prison have a mental illness, how much it is spending on mental health in prisons or whether it is achieving its objectives. It is therefore hard to see how Government can be achieving value for money in its efforts to improve the mental health and well being of prisoners. In 2016 there were 40,161 incidents of self-harm in prisons and 120 self-inflicted deaths.
The NAO has investigated how NHS Shared Business Services handled its backlog of unprocessed clinical correspondence.
Good progress has been made by the Department of Health and NHS England in setting up a programme to close hospital beds for people with a learning disability, but the programme is not yet on track to achieve value for money. The report examines how the NHS in England and local authorities seek to improve the lives of the 129,000 people aged 18 to 64 who use local authority learning disability support services.
The Better Care Fund has not achieved the expected value for money, in terms of savings, outcomes for patients or hospital activity.
Demand for ambulance services continues to grow rapidly, but services are finding it increasingly difficult to cope with rising demand.
Challenging objectives for improving access to general practice have been set by the Department and NHS England, but a more coordinated approach and stronger incentives are needed.
This Departmental Overview looks at the Department of Health (DH) and summarises its performance during the year ended March 2016, together with our recent reports on it.
The financial performance of NHS bodies worsened considerably in 2015-16, according to the National Audit Office.
The amount recovered has increased but NHS hospital trusts remain some way from complying in full with the requirement to recover the cost of treating overseas visitors.