Greater Manchester's top NHS body is 'failing' in emergency care with £218 million debt

Greater Manchester’s debt-laden top NHS body is ‘failing’ in several key areas and now faces ‘enforcement’ action.

It’s been placed under extra scrutiny by national NHS chiefs after it fell into £180 million of debt, and failed to provide sufficient ‘provision of emergency care’, meaning A&E waiting times were among the worst in the country.

On Wednesday (July 17), NHS Greater Manchester formally accepted ‘enforcement undertakings’ from national body NHS England. They come after NHS England found the regional organisation ‘is failing or has failed to discharge some of the integrated care board functions as set out in the National Health Service Act 2006’.

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The failings have been identified in ‘leadership and governance’, ‘financial planning’, ‘performance’ and ‘quality of care’, according to a new report. NHS Greater Manchester chair, Sir Richard Leese, said ‘it’s self-evident this is not the place we would want to be’.

Specifically, NHS England has moved in after the regional body descended into £180 million of debt in the last financial year. Its objective was to break even.

The latest update on the accounts says the deficit stood at £218 million at the start of May, and in mid-June, local leaders submitted a plan to bring the deficit down to £175 million this financial year. After two months of the 2024/25 financial year, the organisation ‘is reporting a deficit position of £78.1 million, which is £19.2 million worse than the year-to-date plan of £58.9 million’.

In terms of care, the probe found that ‘elective recovery and [its] long wait position is in the lowest quartile of the NHS Oversight Framework (NOF) for 65 week waits and