21.05.14
Management award for trust tackling deficit
Mid Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Trust and consultancy EY have won a major management award for their success in cutting “one of the largest NHS budget deficits in history” while improving outcomes and access for patients.
The trust won the Performance Improvement in the Public Sector award from the MCA (Management Consultancies Association), which called its turnaround “quite remarkable” thanks to savings of more than £50m since April 2012 (equivalent to almost 6% per annum) alongside a 21 percentage point reduction in the mortality rate.
It should now eliminate its deficit in 2016/17, six years earlier than first expected.
Trust chief executive Stephen Eames said: “This award recognises the huge achievements made by the trust in addressing its deficit, improving standards and produce plans for a sustainable model of care from 2016/17. The partnership between the Trust and EY has been integral to the transformation achieved.”
Newspaper reports in early 2013 said Mid Yorkshire had paid £3.7m to EY (then known as Ernst & Young) for work to deliver savings since December 2011 – spending criticised at the time by unions and MPs. The consultancy was brought in initially for six weeks by the trust’s then-new finance director, who was concerned about the depths of the deficit. EY found a structural financial deficit of more than £37m – proportionately, one of the largest in the NHS.
Alan Leaman, CEO of the MCA, said: “Many congratulations to the trust and EY for kickstarting a plan which has led to such a dramatic turnaround. It is particularly impressive that the approach taken is now being deployed more widely across NHS organisations.”
KPMG with University Hospitals Bristol NHS Foundation Trust (UHB) was also highly commended in the Performance Improvement in the Public Sector category, and three other NHS projects were finalists at this year’s MCA Awards: PwC and NHS England, Newton Europe and Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust, and Prederi with the Department of Health.
More on the turnaround at Mid Yorkshire in the next edition of NHE.