Finance boss says NHS Trust ‘in deteriorating financial situation’
THE FINANCE boss at the struggling NHS trust which oversees Grimsby, Scunthorpe and Goole hospitals has admitted it is in a “deteriorating financial situation” and facing a deficit of £46.7m.
The Northern Lincolnshire and Goole (NLAG) NHS Foundation Trust is one of four health organisations, including United Lincolnshire Hospitals and two trusts in London, to have been placed in “special measures” for finance and quality.
A financial improvement director, appointed by NHS Improvement, has been working with NLAG since last March. But in the latest update to the board, which meets on Tuesday, the director of finance, Marcus Hassall, acknowledges the trust is £15m adrift of its “headline” plan, and is unlikely to exit special measures yet.
He said: “The best case forecast deficit of £43.5m only keeps yearon-year deficits stable.
“It does not demonstrate a year-on-year improvement that would be essential for exiting financial special measures. It will be difficult for a regulator to remove an organisation from financial special measures whilst it still has a deteriorating financial position.”
The trust is currently running at a £3.7m deficit per month – an improvement on the £5.1m per month average in the first six months of the year. Among the reasons given for the worsening financial deficit is the inability to access extra NHS payments, due to its missing its A&E target of seeing 90 per cent of patients within four hours and non-compliance with financial control.
There has also been a further increase in spending on agencies as the number of vacancies for nurses has increased and “premium temporary staffing” has been used to cover operational management vacancies.
Vacancy cover for the accident and emergency, acute medicine, gastroenterology, cardiology and respiratory departments has cost more than £1.3m, while nursing cover at the three hospitals cost £464,000. The report warns that “without tight grip on nursing and medical staffing costs, the plan we have agreed cannot be delivered”.
It adds: “The trust must now outline its medium term financial strategy that demonstrates how it can significantly improve its current financial deficit position. This will be a key feature for the November board meeting.”
Coun Keith Moore, a Labour member for Goole North, said the trust “needs help not more handcuffs” and there were issues with equipment breaking down and staffing levels.
He said: “If they can’t recruit key staff and are having to employ agency staff, they are on a never-ending spiral downwards. The Government is trying to run trusts like supermarkets.”
No-one from the trust was available to comment.