The Guardian reports that 13 NHS trusts are "technically bankrupt with no chance of meeting a legal obligation to balance their books." The deficits are mainly caused by a financial regime known as Resource Accounting and Budgeting (RAB). RAB has caused deficits to escalate and for example, Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Woolwich culmulative deficit by end of March is predicted to stand at over £65 million.
The Government is only now promising to look into the problems caused by RAB. It should have been clear from the first few years that the system is not working for trusts and should have changed it then and not now as some of the trusts are in deep deficits.
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