03.08.15
Monitor to investigate trust over finances and eHospital
Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (CUH) is to be investigated by Monitor over its finances and the impact of the introduction of a new £200m ‘eHospital’ IT system.
The regulator is looking into the financial problems, including the introduction and management of the IT system, as it “may indicate wider issues with how the trust is being run”.
In July, the hospital’s Finance and Performance Committee acknowledged the “very challenging financial position facing the trust”. It was also reported that by the end of May, the trust delivered a deficit of £10.3m against a planned deficit of £10m.
Stephen Hay, managing director at Monitor, said: “We have launched an investigation into CUH over financial concerns. This investigation will include how the trust handled the introduction of a major new IT system. We want to know more about the nature of the problems and will explore what can be done to improve things on behalf of patients in Cambridge.”
Earlier this year, NHE talked to Dr Afzal Chaudhry, chief information officer and renal consultant at Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, who said that while there have been ‘teething problems’ with the implementation of its £200m electronic patient record system, the future benefits that eHospital will bring to the trust far outweigh the initial challenges.
eHospital went live at Addenbrooke’s on 26 October 2014, and was the culmination of a three-year process to allow CUH to start moving towards an electronic patient record.
However, following its introduction, a report by Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) highlighted areas of concern, including issues in the emergency department.
For example, within the first week there had been a difficulty in matching blood test results for patients, meaning some had to be checked again. On 1 November 2014, it was reported that the computer system “became unstable”. A ‘major incident’ was declared, resulting in ambulances being re-routed to other hospitals for several hours.
At the time, Dr Chaudhry told us: “You know from the outset that you won’t be instantly as efficient as you were. This is simply because people have to have time to adapt and transition to the new system.”
He assured NHE that “in the long-term, as a system, it [eHospital] will save time. It will also, hopefully, mean we can identify things further up the care pathway in treating our patients”.
In 2013 Monitor took separate regulatory action at the trust over concerns about finances and the way it was run, this action ended in July last year after improvements were made.
Responding to the latest announcement, a CUH spokesperson said: “Monitor has announced that they are investigating our trust finances in light of our predicted deficit. They will also be looking at range of other areas, including the impact of the introduction of our electronic patient record system.
“The significant investment this year in eHospital is also having an impact on our finances, with efficiency benefits increasing as the system becomes fully embedded.
“We would like to reassure public and patients that we are doing everything possible to improve our financial position, whilst ensuring safe care for our patients.”
Monitor has not yet decided whether regulatory action will be required following this investigation and will announce the outcome in due course.
(Image: c. Chris Radburn)