The Auditors' Local Evaluation (ALE) assesses how well NHS trusts and primary care trusts (PCTs) manage and use their financial resources. It was undertaken for the first time for the 2005/06 financial year.
ALE involves auditors making scored judgements on the five key areas of:
- financial reporting
- financial management
- financial standing
- internal control
- value for money
The five key areas provide the basis on which the Audit Commission calculates an overall use of resources (UoR) score. This UoR score is included within the Healthcare Commission's Annual Health Check which consists of two elements:
- a score for quality of services
- a score for UoR
ALE identifies the strengths and weaknesses of individual organisations and the NHS as a whole in their use of resources. Each NHS organisation should use the information available to it from ALE to improve. ALE will also provide new PCTs with an assessment of the performance of the predecessor organisations and will aid decisions about which organisations' practices should be adopted.
This briefing draws out and summarises the key themes from ALE in 2005/06. It also includes some case studies drawn from those organisations that have performed well or strongly.