Health financing crisis deepens
24 September 2012
Regulator Monitor has taken action against one Foundation trust over its financial performance, while an NHS trust has asked its entire workforce if they want to apply for redundancy.
Monitor is taking action against Sherwood Forest Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, claiming it is in breach of two terms of its authorisation – both relating to its financial performance."Monitor has stepped in because the Trust’s financial performance has deteriorated,” said chief operating officer Stephen Hay. “It failed to deliver recurrent savings of £10m in the last financial year and made a £5.9m loss in quarter one this year. We had already increased our regulatory scrutiny because of financial and governance concerns.”
Monitor’s board will now consider what action to take in the next few weeks, with the power to close services and even sack the entire senior management team. Among the regulator’s major concerns are the trust’s ability to repay its £296m PFI deal, which it signed back in 2005.
Meanwhile, Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust has asked 4,500 staff if they want to apply for redundancy, with up to 200 workers possibly being made redundant as the trust looks to balance its books.
The trust insisted that the move was unconnected with the cost of the Tunbridge Wells PFI hospital, which became fully operational last year.
The news follows the placing of South London Healthcare NHS Trust into the Regime for Unsustainable NHS Providers earlier this year because of concerns over its financial viability.
