Cambridgeshire NHS Trust enters 'unchartered territory' with £3m deficit
It's a lot higher than its planned loss of 120,000 pounds
A Cambridgeshire NHS Trust has said it is entering “uncharted territory” as it faces a £3.1million deficit.
The year-to-date deficit reported by the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust is a lot higher than its planned deficit of £120,000.
The interim director of finance, Derek McNally, said the “complex” pay award for staff, agency staffing costs, and the cost of patients being sent out of the county for treatment were some of the things driving up costs for the Trust.
Mr McNally said: “We have got a deficit of £3.1m in quarter one. We are moving into uncharted territory, we have not been in this position this early on in many years precious to this.”
The Trust provides physical and mental health services, and its two biggest bases are at the Fulbourn Hospital in Cambridge, and the Cavell Centre in Peterborough.
A report to the Trust’s board of directors meeting this week (July 26) said it overspent by £900,000 on out-of-area treatment costs, and that there was a £900,000 “cost pressure” paying for medical agency staff.
The report also said the Trust was facing a £600,000 cost pressure due to the staff pay award, and that the estates and IT costs had overspent by £600,000 so far this year.
It said: “The financial position is concerning at this stage and needs urgent and robust focus and review to address the overspends and reduce the risk of variance from plan in future months.”
Stephen Legood, director of people and business development said the agency staffing costs were “incredibly high”, but highlighted it was an issue being faced by other NHS Trusts as well.
Dr Cathy Walsh, chief medical officer, said the Trust was hoping to reduce agency rate “significantly”, but said this needed a “coordinated approach” from all NHS Trusts to “pressure agencies to reduce what they are asking for”.
She said it was a “seller’s market” at the moment with Trusts “desperate” to keep services going and therefore competing with each other for agency staff.
Anna Hills, chief executive at the Trust, highlighted the issue of patients being treated outside of the county due to the Trust being unable to provide space for them, and said in some cases people were placed “a long way outside the county”.
Debbie Smith, director of operations and system partnership, said 31 Trust patients were being treated out of the county at the time of the meeting, but said there was a plan in place to bring those patients back “as soon as possible”.
She added the Trust was on track to hit its target of having no patients being treated out of the area by the end of September.
Mr McNally said it was “positive to hear news” that the number of patients being treated out of the area was coming down, and that if the planned trajectory continued the Trust “should see impact on finances fairly quickly”.
Ms Hills also highlighted ideas the Trust was considering to increase the income it could make from its own buildings.
She said: “One of the things which I have done before and has worked really well is looking around the use of photovoltaic income generation from the sun and selling it back to the grid.
“There is lots of the estate we could put solar panels on, those sorts of things could even impact us this year if we get our speed up.”