Hewitt defends NHS spend

Health secretary Patricia Hewitt has insisted that the majority of NHS trusts are operating within their budgets, despite fears about a record overspend.

Ms Hewitt claims she has put in place measures to tackle deficits within the heath service and expected these to bear fruit in the coming months.

Her comments come as speculation swirls over the reasons for the early retirement of Sir Nigel Crisp, head of the NHS in England, who stepped down on Tuesday after admitting his role in the health service’s current financial problems.

But Ms Hewitt has denied this, saying instead that the time had been right for him to move on after almost six years at the helm.

“Sir Nigel has led the NHS with enormous distinction and has delivered huge results, like the lowest waiting lists ever, for nearly six years,” Ms Hewitt told the Today programme.

“He made the judgment at a point where we are something over halfway through the [government’s] ten-year improvement plan [for the NHS]. It made sense for him to retire now so that new leadership could be put in place not just in the regions and locally but nationally to lead the NHS forward.”

Following Sir Nigel’s departure, his role will be split in two, with Sir Ian Carruthers becoming acting chief executive of the NHS and Hugh Taylor moving up to acting permanent secretary of the Department of Health

The pair are likely to face major challenges, however, with the government predicting the NHS deficit for the financial year would reach a record ?620 million, despite Ms Hewitt’s determination to view the positives.

“The serious financial problems are in a very small minority of hospitals and other NHS organisations,” the health secretary added.

“The majority of the NHS are not only delivering very rapid improvements in patient care but they are doing it within their budget. I think that it is reasonable to expect all of the NHS to do that.”

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