The Guardian has revealed that there are 17 trusts that are heavily in debt and finally the NHS and Department of Health has admitted the problem. The debt is to the tune of hundreds of millions of pounds at each of the trusts - 12 of which are not creditworthy enough to be lent money from government funds, according to David Nicholson the NHS chief executive. The DoH must now enter a phase of complete re-organisation to to help them survive. How have these hospitals got themselves in to such a mess without the government intervening sooner and why is the structure of investment and reform allowing this to happen in the first place?
One of the reason is the incredible amount of money the government is investing in IT systems rather than patient care and funding for more practical areas of the NHS. Whilst a new IT system may improve some areas it is a luxury that is not anywhere near the priorities of most NHS employees and is also vastly expensive. The other problem with the government's IT investments is that they have an uncanny ability to cock it up. You will remember the problems with the online recruitment system the NHS set up. Well yesterday things got worse! A security lapse on the website enabled confidential information on thousands of applicants, including their sexual orientation, doctors' addresses, home phone numbers, religion and previous convictions to be accessed by the public yesterday for eight hours! It really is time to put someone in charge of the NHS who actually understands it properly because right now the NHS is not working and is being managed by the DoH with the aptitude of Basil Fawlty running a hotel.