HOSPITAL CAN’T PAY THE BILLS
SHORTAGE OF CASH MEANS TRUST IS MORE THAN £23M IN DEBT
HOSPITAL bosses have been struggling to pay the bills.
A shortage of cash at Calderdale and Huddersfield NHS Foundation Trust (CHFT) has seen 7,000 invoices go unpaid.
The news comes as finance chiefs warned executives who met yesterday that they would have to go through “a list of unpalatable/unpleasant decisions” that needed to be made to boost the hospital’s financial recovery.
The overall financial health of the trust is deteriorating with the trust on track to be more than £23m in the red by the end of the financial year.
A report for the trust’s finance committee reveals the financial black hole is currently about £5m worse than forecast.
And it also unveils issues with paying thousands of suppliers, citing “cash challenges” as the reason the bills weren’t settled.
The hospital has refused to tell the Examiner what kind of bills have gone unpaid or how many of the 7,000 have now been resolved.
Deputy director of finance, Kirsty Archer, said: “There are occasions when there are delays in paying our bills and in these situations local and small suppliers have and continue to be prioritised.
“We apologise to all suppliers who have faced delays.
“We now have a much improved situation and are trying to make payments in as timely fashion as possible.
“The 7,000 outstanding invoices was the situation in October and it is now considerably lower.
“The trust receives loan funding from the Department of Health throughout the year to enable us to make the payments – as do many trusts who are in a similar financial situation – and as soon as the funds are with us we make every effort to ensure our suppliers are paid in a timely fashion.”
A government plan for hospitals to raise cash by selling property was rubber stamped this week.
The Naylor Report is set to spark the biggest sell off of assets in NHS history.
The Calderdale and Huddersfield NHS Trust is already well down the road with its sales with the former St Luke’s site at Crosland Moor already set to become a huge housing estate.
The trust has also sold the former Princess Royal health centre next to Greenhead Park and has plans to offload smaller properties used as offices around its main Infirmary site.
The full Acre Street site could also be sold to a developer if the plan to demolish Huddersfield Royal Infirmary is given the green light.