Catherine Davies, Executive Director of Co-operation and Competition at Monitor, spoke at our event on whether competition will be a help or a hindrance. She explained the role that Monitor will play in service reconfiguration and economic and quality regulation.

Catherine Davies: will competition be a help or a hindrance?

Monitor has published its third quarterly report on foundation trust performance - this covers October to December 2013.

We track the performance of foundation trusts to help them prevent operational issues from turning into quality problems and adversely affecting patient care.

In this podcast, Jason Dorsett, director of financial reporting and risk at Monitor, explains some of the report’s key points.

To read more, please go to www.monitor.gov.uk/performance

-----------------------------------------------
Transcript: 

Monitor has published its quarter three 2013/14 report on NHS foundation trust performance.

We track the performance of foundation trusts to help them prevent operational issues from turning into quality problems and adversely affecting patient care. 

In this podcast, Jason Dorsett, Monitor’s director of financial reporting and risk at Monitor, explains some of the report’s key points.

Monitor: Hello, Jason. This report looks at foundation trusts’ operational, financial and regulatory performance. What would you say are the most important trends the report highlights?

Jason Dorsett: NHS foundation trusts are performing well in providing quality services to patients in challenging economic times.

Trusts have so far managed to cope with winter pressures on A&E departments, but there has been a noticeable deterioration in performance on waiting times, particularly for some cancer targets.

We are concerned about how this might impact on future performance and are continuing to monitor the situation closely.

Monitor: What financial trends does the report highlight?

Jason Dorsett: The foundation trust sector as a whole remains in surplus, but the size of the surplus has halved since this time last year. This is a reflection of the challenging economic climate.

Thirty nine trusts were in deficit in this quarter which is 15 more than was expected, although most of these are already subject to regulatory action through which Monitor is helping them overcome their problems.

Overall the sector has struggled to deliver the required efficiency savings having £867m so far this year which is 18% (£185m) behind what they planned at this stage.

Thank you for listening to this podcast. For the data in full, please visit www.monitor.gov.uk/performance

Performance of the foundation trust sector for quarter three 2013/14

We are the sector regulator for health services in England.

Our job is to protect and promote the interests of patients by ensuring that the whole sector works for their benefit.  

Performance of the foundation trust sector for quarter three 2013/14

MonitorRegulator

Related tracks