Midcentral slips $1m into deficit

Growing pressure on Palmerston North Hospital’s emergency department has pushed the Midcentral District Health Board $1 million into the red, less than two months into its financial year.

Hospital management say they are caught in an ‘‘endless winter’’ as they battle to turn around the $1.19m deficit, but say this will not compromise services.

The latest numbers come on the back of a $2.3m deficit for the 2015/16 year.

The board had been aiming to pull in a $2.1m surplus.

Midcentral clinical services and transformation general manager Mike Grant said it was a challenging time.

‘‘Winter is challenging. The first months of the financial year are challenging. It seems like we have been in an endless winter.’’

Grant said they were hopeful of catching up to budget in summer.

Midcentral chief executive Kathryn Cook said the Ministry of Health was seeing demand pressures in many DHBS.

‘‘The first months of the year can be volatile, as the board knows. We are not where we want to be.’’

For the past financial year, DHBS ran $54m in deficits all up, with 13 out of 20 in the red.

Only three of those overspent their budget worse than Midcentral, though.

Midcentral finance and corporate services general manager Neil Wanden said the hospital ‘‘experienced strong growth in demand’’ at the emergency department in mid-2015.

This demand had been ongoing and had impacts on acute medical and surgical services.

‘‘At this early stage of the year, we have some opportunities for revenue to catch up.

‘‘We are always looking for areas that we can operate more effectively and efficiently and live within our means, and are committed to ensuring that this does not reduce our ability to provide high-quality service to the community.’’

July and August had been extremely busy, with high levels of acute presentation and admissions, particularly into medical wards, Wanden said.

Wanden said the 2015/16 deficit had no impact on this year’s deficit.

‘‘These deficits have required no increase in borrowing from the DHB and we continue to be in a sound overall financial position,’’ he said.

Labour’s associate health spokesman David Clark said the deficits were the result of underfunding by the Government.

‘‘They are underfunded, is the long and short of it, to deliver the service required.’’

Clark said DHBS were being ‘‘run into the ground’’.

‘‘It means people miss out on some of the care they need and it puts pressure on already stretched staff.’’

Health workers ‘‘bent over backwards’’ to make the situation work.

‘‘Staff are just not coping, there is so much pressure on the system.

‘‘The Government keeps asking the public health system to deliver more.’’

Clark said the fact that DHBS were running deficits was proof they were struggling.