From a "worst case" deficit forecast at one time of up to £22 million to an actual one of £2.9 million is no mean achievement for Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. It deserves praise for recouping such a large sum in just over a year.
However, the jury is still out on whether this has been achieved without affecting key services or waiting lists - although it is encouraging that the Trust says the economies have been completed without any front-line staff such as doctors or nurses being involved in its redundancy scheme.
There is still a long way to go, though, before the rest of the deficit is whittled away. It is important that it is done with as little damage as possible being caused to patient care.
Without doubt there has in the past been less scrupulous management of trust finances than there should have been, which was largely how the alarming deficit arose in the first place. In addition to much more careful housekeeping locally, there is a need for the Government to get its NHS policies sorted to make sure that the large amount of money invested in the service is spent properly.
However, it also has to ensure that when centrally-promoted initiatives are thrown at health trusts they are accompanied by enough resources to make them work as they should without undermining other areas.
Local managements should not be left to juggle existing funds to meet new Government promises because they have not been provided with any new money to support them.
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