Has the health service simply given up trying to balance the books while local government studiously avoids deficits at all costs? Jim Graham believes it has …

The figures coming out of the NHS in terms of projected overspending make for eye-watering reading. That they could have been a bitter pill during the conference season is understandable, but they do pose another problem. Over many meetings around the health/local authority interface, I have been struck by a number of issues that could get in the way of integration – the holy grail. It is often argued that the ‘national' in health and ‘local' in government is the key difference, but there may now be an even greater impediments.