11.12.12
Peterborough and Stamford trust to get ‘financial steer’
An expert team is to be set up at Peterborough and Stamford Hospital NHS Foundation Trust to address its financial failings.
Monitor will develop plans to ensure financial sustainability at the trust, which has been in significant breach of its terms of authorisation since October 2010. However, there has been no evidence that these financial problems have affected the quality of clinical care.
Following a competitive tender, experts will deliver a report to Monitor to address the trust’s underlying deficit of around £45m, which was partly due to an unaffordable PFI scheme in 2007.
A Contingency Planning Team (CPT) is expected to be appointed at the beginning of 2013 and will report to Monitor in the spring.
Dr David Bennett, chief executive of Monitor said: “We have been working closely with Peterborough and Stamford Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust to improve its financial performance. The reality is that the Trust has a significant underlying deficit and even if it achieves challenging annual cost savings it will continue to need substantial financial support from the Department of Health.
“It is therefore time for us as the sector regulator to step in and look for a solution that ensures services are provided for local patients on a sustainable basis. We have an open mind about the form that solution might take, but it must meet the needs of patients and taxpayers.”
Peter Reading, interim chief executive of Peterborough and Stamford Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, said: “This support from Monitor addresses the requirements the Trust Board identified in August 2012 in our Summary Financial Plan, concerning the need for all organisations involved in the local health system to work together towards a more sustainable and efficient future.
“Indeed, the recent National Audit Office report said the Trust’s deficit was too great for us to resolve on our own, and called on us to work together with the Department of Health, Monitor and local commissioners on urgent action to help the Trust return to financial sustainability. This solution requires a package of measures across the wider health economy of Peterborough, Cambridgeshire and Lincolnshire
“The Trust has appointed eight new directors since 2010 and the new team has had a very positive impact on patient care, clinical engagement, financial management and efficiency. In recent months the Trust has achieved all its performance and quality targets and is performing better than its financial plan.”
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(Image, courtesy PSHFT, shows the new Peterborough City Hospital when it was under construction)