NHS (England) summarised accounts 1994-95 : summarised accounts of Health Authorities, Family Health Services Authorities ... for the year ended 31 March 1995, together with the report of the Comptroller and Auditor General thereon ... / [Department of Health].

  • Great Britain. Department of Health.
Date:
1996
Catalogue details

Licence: Open Government Licence

Credit: NHS (England) summarised accounts 1994-95 : summarised accounts of Health Authorities, Family Health Services Authorities ... for the year ended 31 March 1995, together with the report of the Comptroller and Auditor General thereon ... / [Department of Health]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    Financial support for relocation of staff 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 NHS (ENGLAND) SUMMARISED ACCOUNTS 1994-95 amount disclosed is £41.8 million, of which £11.8 million was incurred in 1994-95. The payments relate to expenditure on such items as nursing and medical advisers, health care advocacy and other similar projects. The Treasury have agreed that these payments can be treated as extra-statutory. The NHS Executive wrote to regional health authorities in May 1995 and told them that general medical services allocations can only be used to reimburse directly the practice expenses specified in the Statement of Fees and Allowances. The Executive are considering whether further guidance needs to be issued in\view of the extent of payments outside the scope of the Statement. — Expenditure from General Practitioner fundholders’ budget savings Regulation 24(2) of the National Health Service (Fundholding Practices) Regulations 1993 defines the use which general practitioner fundholders may make of their budget savings. One approved use is ‘the improvement of any premises from which the members of the practice carry on their practice, whether by improving the structure of the premises or the purchase of furniture and fittings for the premises.’ The appointed auditor of one family health services authority reported that the authority approved the use of savings amounting to £60,000 by one fundholding practice, for the purchase of premises adjoining the existing surgery. Payment of this amount was made in April 1994. The surgery could only be expanded in this way, but the use of fundholder savings to purchase new premises, as opposed to improving existing premises, is beyond the scope of the Regulations. The NHS Executive told me that the scheme was entered into in good faith, albeit in error, with the intention of enabling the practice to provide a wider range of services for their patients. The relevant regional health authority have now issued guidance to family health services authorities in the region, on the use of fundholder savings for the development of premises. In addition, the NHS Executive issued guidance in September 1995 to all regional health authorities, family health services authorities and fundholding practices, re-emphasising that savings may not be spent on land or new buildings. Appointed auditors are considering a small number of other cases where the use of fundholder savings may be outside the scope of the Regulations. The NHS Executive have instructed their Regional Offices to monitor compliance with the guidance to determine whether any further clarification is required. I qualified my opinion on the summarised account of regional and district health authorities for 1993-94, in respect of payments by health authorities to meet capital losses on the sale of property, following the transfer of staff from other health authorities. My Report on the 1993-94 summarised accounts referred to 18 such payments totalling £579,000. Until February 1993, section 26 of the General Whitley Council agreements did not allow such payments. The NHS Executive also accept that a further payment of £75,000, referred to