Credit Culture Crisis In NHS

4.03.00pm GMT Mon 10th Dec 2007

The Liberal Democrats have uncovered figures showing that the NHS is labouring under a credit culture, with Trusts racking up almost a billion pounds in debt from loans within the NHS. Interest payments on these loans will cost £38million this year.

Earlier this summer, West Worcestershire's Liberal Democrat Parliamentary Candidate, Richard Burt requested details of the finances for Worcestershire Primary Care Trust under the Freedom of Information Act and discovered that the PCT had borrowed £25million from the Department of Health in March 2006. The loan is repayable over three years starting in this financial year, 2007/8.

Richard Burt said: "I was concerned to find out just how the PCT had managed to bring itself into balance this year, and what effect this was having on health services across the county. What I discovered was the Department of Health has used its own money to bail out the PCT and balance the books.

"The then Secretary of State for Health, Patricia Hewitt staked her job on bringing the Trust's finances into balance. Now we find that not only did her actions cost thousands of NHS jobs across the country, but the Department of Health used its own money to bail out Trusts that were still in debt.

"This completely undermines Government claims that the NHS is back in the black. The Government are trying to fiddle the figures to make it look like the NHS is on sound financial footing when it clearly isn't. We must have genuine transparency from this Government on NHS finances

"It is taxpayers' money that is being recycled after all, but now the PCT will have to pay interest on top of loan repayments instead of ploughing the money back in to local health services."