York Hospital to make £1m cuts (From York Press)

York Hospital to make £1m cuts

10:34am Saturday 26th December 2009 in

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HOSPITAL bosses in York must claw back nearly £1 million by the end of March to end the year on budget.

The latest available figures show that in November, York Hospital had a £35,000 deficit – well behind its target of finishing the financial year with a £900,000 surplus.

Finance chiefs have now drawn up plans to save money by freezing all non-critical posts, avoiding any non-urgent expenditure and cutting down on agency staff.

The hospital had hoped to finish the year with a surplus in order to plough the money back into a refurbishment programme.

Andrew Bertram, director of finance at York Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, said: “As at November, the Trust had received £150 million of income for services provided, but costs associated with delivery of these services slightly exceeded that, with a reported deficit of £35,000.

“This represents a very small percentage overspend but given the trust is moving into what is traditionally a busier period for the hospital during the winter months, it is important that costs are controlled and that the hospital balances its books for 2009/10.

“Like many organisations the trust is seeking to manage its costs very closely and is currently holding some non-critical vacancies as these arise.

“The trust is also scrutinising its non-staff costs to make sure all purchases are absolutely necessary and unavoidable in the current financial year.

“Due to high levels of demand for hospital services this year, the Trust has used other external providers of services to help out.

“This can be expensive and the trust has sought practical opportunities to bring some of this work back in house for the remainder of the financial year.”

He said the Trust had planned to deliver a surplus of about £900,000 to help manage any unforeseen risks and also provide extra cash resources for the next financial year.

He said: “Surpluses generated in this way are key to the trust’s ability to reinvest in the hospital’s capital infrastructure.

“The site is now more than 30 years old and is in constant need of care and attention to ensure it is fit to accommodate modern health services.”

He said patient care would not be affected by the saving measures they were implementing.