Extra health and social care funding is being used to deal with short-term pressures rather than long-term transformation, says the National Audit Office (NAO).
The NHS received an additional £1.8bn Sustainability and Transformation Fund in 2016-17 in order to support the integration of health and social care at the local level.
This helped improve the health service’s financial position, taking it from a £1,848m deficit in 2015-16 to a £111m surplus in 2016-17. However, the NHS is still struggling to manage increased activity and demand within its budget and has not met its access targets.
Read More