Milton Keynes hospital reports £7.8m surplus cash last year - despite general NHS deficit

Analysis by the Nuffield Trust think tank suggest NHS finances are as unstable as they were before the pandemic, with deficits across England's trusts more than doubling.

However, the figures reveal Milton Keynes University Hospital’s trust reported a £7.8 million surplus in the 2023-24 financial year, meaning the trust's income surpassed its spending.

This is in stark contrast to the previous year, when it reported a deficit of £5.4 million.

Across England, NHS provider trusts reported a £1.2 billion overspend in the 2023-24 financial year – 0.9% of revenue.

Collectively, they reported a £448 million overspend the year before or about 0.4% of revenue.

The Nuffield Trust said it puts the sector in a similar overall position to 2019-20, when "financial instability left it poorly equipped to deal with the pandemic".

Sally Gainsbury, senior policy analyst at the think tank, said: "These findings reveal just how fragile the financial health of the NHS is, which should sound alarm bells over the Government's promise of extensive reforms but with no new money to pay for them."

She added the Government's aim to shift care out of hospitals and reduce waiting lists requires community and mental health care to be "adequately resourced."

She said: "With over six million people on an NHS waiting list – many of them needing treatment in a hospital – it is not realistic to assume expenditure on acute hospitals can just be switched to expand other services such as community and mental health care.

The figures also show the deepest overspends are in the North West and the Midlands which, along with the North East and Yorkshire, have also seen the steepest declines in financial health since 2022-23.

Meanwhile, the steepest declines were recorded among acute hospital trusts in the most deprived areas, while modest improvements were seen in more affluent areas.

Ms Gainsbury warned this is "particularly concerning", saying: "It is well known that people living in poverty have poorer health, more complex conditions and die younger. A strategy that targets investment in these areas, rather than allowing it to flow away from them, is needed to reverse these worrying trends.”

Widespread strikes among medical staff increased temporary staffing, and an increase in expenditure on outsourcing care to the independent sector had a significant impact on the sector last year.

A Department for Health and Social Care spokesperson said the Government inherited” a broken NHS with trusts facing severe financial challenges.”

A £26 billion increase in health and social care funding was announced at the Budget, but investment and reform must continue, they said.

The spokesperson said an "extremely tough" productivity and efficiency target had been set for the NHS next year, but the Government is giving the health service "tools to hit it".

They added: "Through our Plan for Change, we will get the health service back on its feet and fit for patients long into the future.”

A spokesperson for NHS England said: "It is essential NHS organisations operate within their budgets, and we are giving them greater flexibility to focus funding where it's needed the most – while continuing to take action to address any financial issues."