03.08.12
Monitor intervenes at Bolton NHS Foundation Trust
Monitor has exercised its formal powers of intervention at the Bolton NHS Foundation Trust to ensure the board provides effective services for their patients.
David Wakefield will be appointed interim chair of the trust after the previous chair has stepped down over the worsening financial situation.
The trust had previously been contacted by Monitor this April, when the regulator asked the board to commission an external review of governance and rectify performance on healthcare standards and targets. The trust then fell into financial difficulties that compromised efforts to improve the standards of its healthcare services.
In July, the chief executive of the trust, Lesley Doherty, had told members of Bolton Council’s health overview and scrutiny committee that though savings were a challenge, they would not affect frontline clinical services.
Monitor’s subsequent review of Bolton NHS FT’s financial position, governance and reporting made clear that intervention was required to ensure the stability and continued operation of the trust.
Merav Dover, compliance director at Monitor, said: “Monitor’s Board is intervening to strengthen the leadership of the Trust so that an effective recovery plan can be put in place to ensure that all problems are fixed as quickly as possible for the benefit of patients. David Wakefield has the required experience to stabilise the Trust's financial position whilst maintaining quality.”
Monitor also requires the trust to appoint external advisors, to help formulate a financial recovery plan, and a “turnaround director” sitting at board level to develop and deliver the recovery plan.
Dover continued: “The Trust is required to report to us on a regular basis so that we can hold them to account on the delivery of their turnaround plan.”
A CQC inspection in April found the trust meeting “all the essential standards of quality and safety”.
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