£46m hospitals trust accounts update probed
NHS ENGLAND INVESTIGATING WHY CHANGE IN THE FIGURES
AN investigation is under way after Leicester’s Hospitals had to correct a previous year’s accounts adding tens of millions of pounds to the amount by which the trust overspent.
NHS England (NHSE) said it is trying to find out whether there has been a “failure to meet formal financial governance conditions” at University Hospitals of Leicester Hospitals NHS Trust.
The trust runs the Leicester Royal Infirmary and Glenfield and General hospitals.
NHSE has commissioned its own accountants to sift through the trust’s 2018-19 accounts, which originally declared it had spent £84.1 million more than its income.
Concerns were raised when the trust carried out a “prior year adjustment in January and retrospectively added £46.2 million to the 2018-19 deficit, taking it to £130.3 million.
A spokesman for NHS England and Improvement in the Midlands said: “We commissioned PwC (PricewaterhouseCoopers) to undertake an independent review of the financial position at University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust. The purpose of the investigation is to determine if there is evidence of a failure to meet formal financial governance conditions. The process is ongoing.”
A trust spokeswoman said: “The trust’s financial position deteriorated due in large part to the complex impact of the balance sheet review. In view of this, the accountancy firm PwC has been engaged by NHSE to carry out an independent review to investigate the reliability of the trust’s finances and financial governance.
“We will be in a position to accurately update our forecast once the outcome of the PwC work is available. This work will also help inform the final year end accounts position and external audit.”
Our sister paper the
Leicester
Mercury has spoken to senior figures in other public authorities who said prior year adjustments on the scale made by the trust were almost unheard of.
One source said: “Something has gone catastrophically wrong here if you have to go back and accept you understated your deficit by £46 million.
“That is a staggering sum to be out by and it does not surprise me that NHS England is extremely keen to get to the bottom of how it happened.”
The trust is being run by acting chief executive Rebecca Brown, stepping in for John Adler.
The trust has confirmed Mr Adler is on sick leave and has been off since before the coronavirus pandemic began.
It is understood Ms Brown sent an email to the trust’s partners ahead of the publication of this story explaining it would be appearing in the media and that the trust’s long-standing deficit had been “significantly misstated”.
It is understood she said the issue was serious and she was working hard to confirm her understanding of the issue and restore the trust’s finances.