11.07.17
Bristol trust taken out of financial special measures
A trust in the west of England has been taken out of financial special measures, following significant steps forward in its fiscal performance.
NHS Improvement said that the struggling trust had demonstrated strong leadership and worked collaboratively with the organisation to find savings of more than £8m than originally expected in 2016-17.
North Bristol NHS Trust delivers care across Bristol and South Gloucestershire, and was placed into financial special measures in September 2016.
“I want to congratulate the senior team and all staff at North Bristol NHS Trust for the significant progress they have made in just under a year,” said Bob Alexander, deputy chief executive at NHSI.
“The trust responded positively and proactively to being placed into special measures, which saw rapid improvement.
“We all have a duty to get the best value for every NHS pound,” he added. “With our support, the senior team at North Bristol NHS Trust really took on the challenge we set for their finances and actively engaged all staff in financial improvement. We will be looking to use this as an example of good practice for other trusts.”
Chief executive of the trust Andrea Young said she was delighted that her organisation’s improvement had been noted by NHS officials.
“It has been important for us to turn around our finances as an organisation while also maintaining our focus on providing exceptional patient care,” she said. “We met our financial control total while also improving our performance against key national care standards such as cancer waiting times. We could not have achieved this without the hard work of staff across the organisation.
“We know there is still work to do in reducing the trust’s deficit further and we are committed to working more efficiently in order to achieve this.”
Last month, NHS Improvement’s boss Jim Mackey confirmed estimates from NHS Providers that suggested the deficit for 2016-17 would stand between £700m and £750m. The provider system actually ended the year with a £735m pre-audit deficit, but this rose to £791m after two providers chose to defer two transactions into this financial year.
However, the result was hailed as a “fantastic achievement given where people were at the end of Q3”, and especially following the whopping year-end deficit of £2.45bn in 2015-16.
Top Image: South West Medicines Information and Training
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