A CHANNEL 4 programme filmed in York Hospital is tonight expected to focus on the financial penalties and payments affecting Accident and Emergency departments.

The Dispatches programme, A&E’s Missing Millions was filmed in York Hospital during a busy period in December at the time of a norovirus outbreak. It will show the experiences of staff and patients over a 24-hour period.

The programme is due to look at the cost and consequence of financial penalties imposed on hospitals when government targets to treat emergency cases are missed.

This includes the policy of non-payment if a patient is readmitted within 30 days of being discharged – which has amounted to £1 million being held from Vale of York Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) since April 2013, the CCG said.

Among other tariffs, it is also expected to look at the nationally set 30 per cent limit on how much money hospitals get for emergency admissions.

In order to discourage over-reliance on A&E, once hospitals reach a set number of emergency admissions they only get 30 per cent of the full cost of treating the patient thereafter.

This is forecast to amount to £3.5 million withheld from Vale of York CCG in 2013/14, the CCG said.

A spokesperson for the Vale of York CCG said: “The CCG cannot comment on national policies regarding penalties, nor can it comment on nationally set targets.

“It can confirm that the CCG is working closely with the hospital trust on approaches to improving patient flow, reducing pre-A&E activity and with other partners to facilitate the discharge of patients.”

Dispatches will be shown at 8pm tonight.