Health trust losing £1.3m a month
8:55am Thursday 15th November 2012 in News
BOLTON NHS Foundation Trust is losing between £1.3 million and £1.5 million every month.
It comes after the cash-strapped trust, which runs the Royal Bolton Hospital and community-based services at health centres, announced 500 jobs, including some frontline staff, need to go to save money.
Of the 500 positions, 149 are nurses, midwives and healthcare assistants.
A further 20 are medical and dental, 93 are technicians, scientists and clinical support, 193 are non-clinical staff and 45 are estate facilities.
Staff were told about the cuts on Tuesday, when a formal 90-day consultation period began.
Health chiefs stressed job losses will not affect patient care — but compulsory redundancies were not ruled out.
The trust, which is almost £8 million in the red, could be £16 million in deficit by the end of the year.
Each month, money is being lost through inefficiencies and because of contracts signed by the trust, which mean it is only paid for a certain level of work.
Trust chairman David Wakefield said: “We have known for a while the financial situation at the trust was serious and the fact we are running at a monthly loss is a sign of this.
“This is largely because our activity is above the level we are contracted for, so we aren’t receiving full payment for the work we do.
“There are also areas across the trust where efficiency is below planned levels. We are working hard to develop robust plans to address the financial situation without affecting the quality of patient care and as well as our internal review processes I will be seeking assurance by peer review from other trusts.“ Staff have been told about the trust’s financial situation in a newsletter from the new turnaround director Terry Watson, where he has asked for people to suggest ways they can help to make savings.
Mr Watson was brought into the trust as part of a £1 million turnaround package by its new interim chairman David Wakefield, who was appointed by health watchdog Monitor.
The trust, which was forced to borrow £8 million from the Department of Health to pay running costs and staff wages until the end of December, also has to make £38 million savings in the next two years following government cuts.
Monitor stepped in at the hospital in August after a damning financial report revealed £3.8 million was unaccounted for — it followed another critical report in March, which placed the hospital in “red risk” after it failed A&E and 18-week targets.
Monitor put the trust at the highest risk level and Mr Wakefield was brought in to replace Cllr Cliff Morris, the leader of Bolton Council.
PricewaterhouseCoopers was also brought in to find out how the trust had ended the year £1.9 million in deficit when it had been forecast to have a £1.9 million surplus.
The turnaround team, headed by Mr Watson, includes management consulting experts from Deloitte and two senior members of staff who have been brought in to give additional support to the operation.
Geoff Stokes, who has experience in management consulting at The Princess Alexandra Hospital NHS Trust and Milton Keynes Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, is the head of programme office at the trust.
Chris West, who has experience tackling similar issues in other trusts, has been appointed as turnaround manager.
They have formed a turnaround board, which includes the hospital’s executive directors and other key senior staff. It meets each week.
The team is focusing on the health economy, which includes urgent care, efficiency, which includes theatres, outpatients, beds, pathology,and radiology, the workforce, including pay, nursing, medical and non-clinical, and non-pay workstreams, including states, income, pharmacy and procurement to make savings.
In the newsletter, which has been emailed to staff and put on the trust’s intranet, Mr Watson said: “All staff should be aware the Trust has very serious financial problems.
“We are now working on developing a major programme of activities aimed at reshaping the organisation to remove the deficit in a safe and sustainable way.
Later this month, Mr Wakefield will take the trust’s recovery plan to Monitor.
Mr Wakefield said he knew the anxiety that the job cut announcement would cause staff and said they were trying to avoid compulsory redundancies.
He added: “We have to make savings and make them quickly if the Trust is to become financially stable going forward.”
Comments(27)
Undetectableman
says...
11:11am Thu 15 Nov 12
http://www.thebolton
news.co.uk/news/1004
9082.Nursing_jobs_fa
ce_axe/?action=succe
ss
All this just beggars belief!!
if as individuals we behaved like this we would all be taken to court and locked up and certainly never allowed to have control of any business or organisation in the future
Bendix
says...
11:19am Thu 15 Nov 12
Bowtonboy
says...
11:35am Thu 15 Nov 12
Undetectableman
says...
11:47am Thu 15 Nov 12
Bowtonboy wrote:Sadly Its not attributable to any specific Political Party they have all dabbled with the workings of the NHS with what can only be described as abject failure.
If patient care won't be affected, why does the taxpayer need to fund 500 surplus staff? Labour's profligacy coming home to roost, and then there's the costs of PFI.
All the politicians need to have the guts to get together set up a multi party forum to establish a cohesive and long term non political plan of action to ensure that our Health Service is run efficiently without political intervention based on party politics.
Health is for the people not the Committee Members Managers and Politicians to line their pockets from!
Yes times are hard money is short .... but then why are we accepting allowing these highly paid admin posts with huge severance packages that they get when its all gone wrong and they want to get out !
Natty123
says...
12:26pm Thu 15 Nov 12
Undetectableman wrote:Well said. However as long as they continue to preen their own feathers in accordance with their own selfish needs and wants, they will never be in a position see the mess they leave behind them in their wake. Greed and lofty positions is all they are about and as long as this is so great institutions such as the NHS will inevitably suffer.
Bowtonboy wrote:Sadly Its not attributable to any specific Political Party they have all dabbled with the workings of the NHS with what can only be described as abject failure.
If patient care won't be affected, why does the taxpayer need to fund 500 surplus staff? Labour's profligacy coming home to roost, and then there's the costs of PFI.
All the politicians need to have the guts to get together set up a multi party forum to establish a cohesive and long term non political plan of action to ensure that our Health Service is run efficiently without political intervention based on party politics.
Health is for the people not the Committee Members Managers and Politicians to line their pockets from!
Yes times are hard money is short .... but then why are we accepting allowing these highly paid admin posts with huge severance packages that they get when its all gone wrong and they want to get out !
Rememberscarborough
says...
2:08pm Thu 15 Nov 12
rnorris
says...
2:56pm Thu 15 Nov 12
ning.
Willow311
says...
3:27pm Thu 15 Nov 12
Oh yes we may get to go private if we are lucky.
Sounds like a plan coming together for the political parties in charge.
And the plan seems to be..........
Reduce services,and when a hospital closes no-one will be left to care.
Here's another plan.....how about helping bail the NHS out,like you did the bankers?
stuck in the middle with you
says...
4:34pm Thu 15 Nov 12
This is largely because our activity is above the level we are contracted for, so we aren’t receiving full payment for the work we do.
So by being busier than we are supposed to be we get less money.
Is this a political conundrum or what?
If this is the future of Bolton Healthcare. God help us.
wooddemon
says...
8:06pm Thu 15 Nov 12
CHARITY BEGINS AT HOME
As long as these countries can get free handouts every year they will not bother to develop.
Let us see this money pumped into the Health Service instead of flushing it down the loo.
I am a retired Biomedical Scientist , in the 46 years that I was employed the workload of the lab increased by 1,000 per cent . Staff numbers increased by about 100 per cent. The Bolton Trust will confirm that this applies to all departments. So why has funding not increased in proportion to the workload?
I can honestly say that I attach more blame to the Government than I do to the Trust management.
The UK spends far less on its NHS than most EU countries.. Stop giving money to foreign scroungers and spend it onb the NHS.
macauley
says...
12:16am Fri 16 Nov 12
DaveLister
says...
8:09am Fri 16 Nov 12
Let show our support for the hard working front line staff by protesting about these unfair cuts.
May be a Freedom of Information request to Trust about the true cost of the turnround team would be appropriate, I would like to be that makes up a fiar proporation of the 1.5 million a month.
DaveLister
says...
3:02pm Sat 17 Nov 12
What is going happen is all the nursing staff will start to move away to hospitals paying notinal rates and on one will come and work at Bolton on such poor terms.
macauley
says...
9:43pm Sat 17 Nov 12
tinypet
says...
11:14pm Sat 17 Nov 12
Bendix
says...
11:18pm Sat 17 Nov 12
Chris Custodiet
says...
4:35pm Mon 19 Nov 12
So who pays for all this? Not those who brought it about but the taxpayer and the front line staff who will lose their jobs.
The coalition on taking office ordered all publicly funded parts of government to publish the monthly payments they make in excess of £25,000. Can anyone tell me please where this information can be found on the Royal Bolton website? I am having difficulty finding it.
Bendix
says...
5:03pm Mon 19 Nov 12
Chris Custodiet
says...
10:32pm Mon 19 Nov 12
Why not try asking the Bolton News to make some enquiries? I don't live in the Bolton area but I am finding these problems are not untypical of the North West and possibly can be found throughout the UK.
Blyton
says...
6:24am Tue 20 Nov 12
DaveLister wrote:some good passionate reactions about the waste and mismanagement here. Maybe councillor Morris should be publicly accountable. Yes the contracts will be re written, staff will be hard to get or they will recruit overseas and phliipino or other nations Nurses will come here ( robbing their home countries of their valuable skills) to Nurse,with probable language challenges, and the Hospital will close. It is on the list of closures planned for the next 2 years, read the document' the health of greater manchester. You will all have to use Salford Royal hospital for emergency and none emergency treatment. Lives WILL be lost.
You only need to read nation press to see what is coming here. The Trust is going to force staff to accept new contracts which will mean hardworking nurses and other medical staff will not get paid any extra for working nights or weekends. It stinks, all as will happen is good staff will leave and move to other local hospitals paying th national rate. Of course these changes wont effect those in the 'turnround team' ad they dont work for the Trust, and once they killed off the hospital they move off to pastures new. Let show our support for the hard working front line staff by protesting about these unfair cuts. May be a Freedom of Information request to Trust about the true cost of the turnround team would be appropriate, I would like to be that makes up a fiar proporation of the 1.5 million a month.
Protest about it all do,JOIN the mass rally at Cheadle square ( back of the crescent) on DECEMBER 1st between 12.30 and 1.30pm. Protest about cuts and mismanagement of your public institutions the hospital and the University. Write to your many MP's and David Cameron and the big media hitters, make freedom of information requests and ask for forensic auditors to go in, ask for answers at a very visible public level.
macauley
says...
11:20pm Tue 20 Nov 12
Mike23
says...
3:32pm Wed 21 Nov 12
This document is unbelievable...its no wonder the hospital is suffering. Why is it important that staff have access to Zumba classes & a fruit & veg van?
Even Global FTSE companies do not report to this level of lunacy??
Finance costs have risen by 107%...much of this was due to a loan being taken out for a new car park?
Insurance costs risen by 124%
Consultancy costs £660k
The hospital spent £13m on new capital projects, which may include the new car park. This is 4% of annual income!!!!!
Lets put this in perspective...if you earn £20k would you spend £800 a year in maintaining and adding to your lifestyle?
Directors Remun accounted for £1.3m...this is about 12% of the annual capital spend!
Capital spending is expected to fall to £7m in 2012/13.
There is something fundamentally wrong with not only Bolton NHS but all publicly funded organisations and the it is quite clear that the only people who are suffering are the patients.
But like it says on the accounts, " Bolton NHS a great place to work"!!
Take note - a hospital is not a business, its a place where we treat our sick and it is the sick who should have priority above everyone else.
and councillor morris..who was earning £40k from his non exec role, should examine his moral compass, because the people of Bolton deserve better than this.
Bendix
says...
5:39pm Wed 21 Nov 12
Chris Custodiet
says...
9:15am Thu 22 Nov 12
Up and down the country Foundation Trusts have been failing, often accompanied by the discovery of horrendous waste of resurces and with devastating effects on patients and the many dedicated staff that work for them.
Governors have a crucially important role to play but all too frequently they are regarded as the unaccountable poodles of failing Boards and not worthy of any public trust placed in them.
Given the extent of the apparent failures in Bolton under his chairmanship, it may be questionable whether Councillor Morris should have been appointed Chair of either Board or governors. However, irrespective of the abilities of any individual, all employees and officers of a Foundation Trust have a conflict of interest that should bar them from appointment as Chair of its governors. This has been glossed over for far too long and needs to change.
Bendix
says...
9:42am Thu 22 Nov 12
macauley
says...
10:45pm Thu 22 Nov 12
Bendix wrote:in other words he is a plonker.
Take a look a Morris's record at the Bolton College. This man is a disaster but protected and eased into sinecures by a self-serving group who have influence far in excess of their abilities.
Bendix says...
9:31am Thu 15 Nov 12