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Health trust overspends by over £1m: COMMENT ON THIS STORY



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Published Date: 10 October 2008
By Susan Stephenson

HOSPITAL bosses had overspent by more than £1 million at the end of August according to the latest finance report.

They say that although they are not saving money quickly enough, they still think they can achieve a budget surplus of about £2 million by the end of the year.

The report shows spending on pay has gone over budget by £734,000 so far this year. Money has gone on bringing in temporary staff and paying overtime to full time nursing staff.

Scarborough Health Trust has 119 vacancies for qualified nurses and support staff.

Interim finance director John Scampion, says in the report that plans to save money have become "unacceptably slow" and urgent action is needed to remedy the problems.

He said plans to save money were "falling behind the level needed to deliver an acceptable financial performance".

He said: "The trust continues to cautiously forecast the £1.9 million surplus is achievable, but executive action plans have been implemented to add urgency.

"This will be achieved by a combination of measures which should be adopted by all staff, including controlling and reducing overspend areas, delivering the cost savings required as per the financial plan and the use of reserves."

Mr Scampion says the trust wants to make £5 million of savings in total in order to achieve the predicted £1.9 million surplus; and he admitted the trust had not been able to identify ways to save money quickly enough in the past.

"The main reason for this continued overspend is the extremely slow pace in the identification of new saving schemes which is affecting the trust's bottom line by £308,000 a month," he said.

The finance chief says he is now working personally with executive directors at the trust to help them make headway. He also said in the report, that the inability to identify further ways of saving money was adding more pressure on the budget with only seven months remaining of the financial year.

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The full article contains 384 words and appears in Scarborough Evening News newspaper.
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  • Last Updated: 09 October 2008 8:57 PM
  • Source: Scarborough Evening News
  • Location: Scarborough
 
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Against Bereaurcracy.,

10/10/2008 08:57:45
When is this financial savagery going to stop? In a statement earlier this year the chief executive of the Scarborough & North East Yorkshire Healthcare Trust stated “ The most essential components of the recovery plan for the trust is the greater use of care in the community, with the highly specialised, highly trained district nurses at the forefront of the concept”.

The CE also stated “working along with the York & North Yorkshire Primary Care Trust we can reduce not only the number of patients requiring to be admitted to our hospitals but we can also reduce the length of time they stay in the hospital using community nurses for care after discharge of the patients, we will be working with the PCT to achieve this”.

It now transpires the PCT are hell bent on saving £ 800,000 from the budget for the District Nurses, So where will this leave the grand plan of ‘ Care in the Community as proposed by the CE’? probably when lives are lost we will start to know the full cost of these ill conceived plans.

The CE also stated all this talk of cutbacks and saving our hospitals and services is not necessary as no one is going to take anything away, however the way we deliver some services will be different” there will be no cut backs that will impact on patients care”.

Unfortunately the Public, Patients, Staff, Consultants, Advisors, Campaign groups and GP’s disagreed, to date have they listened to or taken action upon any comments or suggestions made ? The answer is quite clearly no.
To quote Dr SU RUFF of York NHS Hospitals Foundation Trust “ The situation at Scarborough Hospital is an illustration of the consequences of ill devised policies.
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Against Bereaurcracy.,

10/10/2008 08:59:04
Cont from 1,

There have been cutbacks and they are impacting not only on the hospital but also on services, in their drive to cut cost for the Trust hospitals they are putting extreme pressure on the staff in the hospitals, GP’s surgeries, District nurses and the Ambulance service like never before, his only concern seems to be balancing the books for the year end, if this madness continues lives will be lost on the way to our hospitals, in our hospitals and in the community at large.

With cuts in services at all our hospitals the Ambulance service primarily an emergency service is being overwhelmed ferrying patients around hospitals in an attempt to find them a bed, cost to the Trust Board nothing, cost to the ambulance service immeasurable.
The ever increasing use of Community Care Nursing Services, cost to the Trust Board nothing, cost to the Community nurses budget £ 800,000 in cuts.

With the PCT and the Sca & N.E.York’s Trust Board determined to save money at all costs I can see no future for the NHS as we know it in this region and to quote a member of staff at Scaborough hospital “The result of this is that services at Scarborough Hospital are being cut by stealth to balance the budget.”

I sincerely hope that the very people who advocate these cuts will be able to live with the results of their actions on their conscience
3

Against Bereaurcracy.,

10/10/2008 09:39:41
Congratulations to you sir!!

Consultant surgeon, professor John MacFie MD FRCS, will begin his tenure of office as president of the Association of Surgeons of Great Britain and Ireland, in January.
John MacFie MD FRCS, will begin his tenure of office as president of the Association of Surgeons of Great Britain and Ireland, in January.

In my last two posts I have slated the trust board for their sheer ineptness and failure, however their are some good things to come out of the Trust and this is really good news, it is a pity the trust could not give us some good news, like an announcement that they are all resigning.

Perhaps in light of the achievements of Consultant surgeon, professor John MacFie we would all be better off with highly skilled and educated medics in charge of the hospital rather than the rabble that are failing every day to run our hospitals and services.
4

badger464,

10/10/2008 10:25:37
so what, when you have a government throwing billions at failing banks is it such a big deal when an institute providing essential services to those in need overspends by what is, in todays terms, a relatively small amount
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English like wot she is meant to be spoke,

10/10/2008 19:16:56
By "not saving the money" quickly enough, I take it they mean not sacking nurses quickly enough?

"Mr Scampion says the trust wants to make £5 million of savings in total in order to achieve the predicted £1.9 million surplus" - why not make just (just!) £3 million of savings and break even? Is there some sort of prize among the ranks of these professional asset strippers for who can sack the most staff? (sorry, I meant for "controlling and reducing overspend areas, delivering the cost savings required")
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