Media Archive 2006

In responding to the Secretary of State’s announcement yesterday that the unaudited NHS accounts for the financial year 2005/6, which excluded foundation trusts, revealed a deficit of a reported £512m, Dr James Kingsland, Chairman of the National Association of Primary Care, commented that the scale of the debt was such that it was unrealistic to expect Primary Care Trusts (PCTs) to be in financial balance at the end of the financial year 2006/7, who, simultaneously, are in the midst of a very major restructuring programme.

Dr Kingsland continued: ‘NAPC’s members are very clear that the way in which the NHS will thrive in the future is through the policy of Practice Based Commissioning (PBC), whereby primary care commissioners and providers manage demand and redesign services, with their local populations. Without PBC, PCTs will struggle to manage deficits in a downward direction without affecting patient care and health, as well as risking other government health policies.  PCTs’ proactive engagement of local practices through PBC will both systematically enable the NHS to be reformed and the scale of the debt reduced.  Such action requires true partnership and trust. This is not a time for prevarication, but for unity and determination to ensure that the investment in the NHS yields benefits for the population of this country’.