East Kent Hospitals University NHS Foundation Trust (EKHT) had overspent by £8.4 million by the end of August, with bosses saying they were “likely to run out of cash by the end of November.”
By the end of September, the trust had overspent by a total of £14.4 million, with its deficit standing at £50.3 million, compared to the £35.9 million it was meant to be at this point in the year.
The trust runs hospitals in Canterbury, Dover, Ashford, Margate, and Folkestone and serves 700,000 people.
Hospital bosses has previously stressed that such financial problems don’t impact their ability to provide services or pay staff.
‘Extremely challenging’
At an online meeting of the trust’s board of directors on October 5, non-executive director Richard Oirschot said that not exceeding the planned £72 million deficit by the start of April would be “extremely challenging.”
Stewart Baird, another non-executive, also told the meeting: “We as a trust are still struggling to cope and meet the demand.
“The activity levels arriving at our front door are still extraordinarily high and we’re acutely aware as we walk into the winter period that this situation is likely to get worse.”
Mr Baird explained that the board had also agreed to “get a special meeting in over the next few weeks and certainly ahead of the next board meeting,” on November 2, to discuss the trust’s finances.
He explained the meeting, which will not be public, would be to “demonstrate that we have tire kicked all the opportunities here, that we’ve looked at all the tough decisions, that we’ve looked at all the slightly off the wall decisions and really explored every avenue.”
Michelle Stevens, chief finance officer, said that unplanned events, such as industrial action, worsened the trust’s finances.
A report to the board of directors shows that the majority of the overspend is from failure to deliver planned efficiency savings – which has cost the trust £11.49m.
‘Continue dedicated work’
In a statement given after the meeting, Ms Stevens said: “Staff from the across the trust are continuing with dedicated work that will enable us to improve our productivity and improve our financial position.
“This work includes control measures such as stricter control on recruitment to non-clinical jobs, continuing with our investment oversight group for non-essential purchases and reducing our use of agency staff, which is starting to show results.
“Patient safety is our top priority, whilst we know there is more work to be done to lower our deficit, we will always ensure there is no impact on patient care.”
The trust added that industrial action has cost the trust £1.1m, and in September they managed to reduce their spending on agency staff by £874k.
National Protocol working
When coffers are empty, NHS trusts have their spending re-forecasted through a process called the National Protocol working with NHS England, and new cash is made available.
In 2012 the South London NHS Healthcare Trust – which ran three hospitals in Greenwich, Bexley and Bromley – was scrapped in the face of financial woes.
The trust was placed in administration after accumulating debts of almost £150 million, losing about £1m a week, and it was divvied up between other NHS bodies and private companies.
It’s rare for NHS trusts to fall into such a situation, but when facing especially severe financial woes they can be placed into administration, special measures, or scrapped and their functions taken up by other NHS bodies instead.
