HFMA response / HFMA evidence to the PAC’s inquiry into capital expenditure in the NHS

21 May 2020 Emma Knowles

1 CPD hour

Our key points are:

our members have consistently identified capital as an area of concern
the recent changes made to the capital regime mean that the NAO’s findings should be considered only to the extent that they allow for the lessons learned from the previous arrangements to be implemented
the challenge of dealing with the Covid-19 pandemic and the changes that have been made at pace should be used to allow the NHS to consider how funding, both revenue and capital, should be best spent to deliver integrated health and social care in the right place at the right time
the delivery of system wide capital schemes will need the legislative change set out in the proposed NHS Bill as well as good financial management on a system wide basis
without a longer-term financial settlement, it is difficult to make any plans. The deferral of the Spending Review, while understandable, is frustrating
we remain concerned about the affordability of capital programmes as well as the process of approval and management. The agility of the arrangements put in place to address the Covid-19 crisis should be retained where possible
nationally announced, large scale capital projects should be tracked from the initial announcement to the opening of the facility to ensure complete transparency.

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