£6m debt blow for care trust

10:38am Wednesday 5th September 2007

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HEALTH bosses have admitted they need to take swift action after creeping a further £6 million into debt in only four months.

North Yorkshire and York Primary Care Trust (PCT) set itself a tough financial recovery plan in April, in a bid to salvage its £33 million deficit.

But figures released this week revealed that, in July, the PCT was £6.1 million deeper in debt than the planned budget position - bringing the total debt for this financial year to £12.4 million.

At yesterday's PCT board meeting, the chief executive, Dr Janet Soo-Chung, said they were facing an "uphill climb".

She said: "Early signs are showing that we are beginning to go off-plan and we have to take action very quickly to refresh and upgrade our plan.

"We need to refocus our efforts and redouble them and keep up the pressure."

She told the board there were two major areas which needed addressing - the PCT's contracts with hospitals and the cost of prescriptions. She said: "We have a number of major contracts for service that are still operating at a level which is unaffordable. We still need to save £33 million, which is quite a significant target and we are facing an uphill climb."

Dr Soo-Chung said she did not know whether it would be possible to claw back the £6 million before the end of the financial year.

She said: "We are going to attempt to do everything we can to bring it back in line, but we won't know whether we have been successful until next April. Given the scale and the complexity of the financial difficulties - turning this around was never going to be an overnight project.

"Our job is to consistently keep our plans under review."

Debbie Newton, deputy director of finance, said there had been a delay in implementing the recovery plan, which was partly responsible for the PCT's failure to meet its four-month target.

She said financial problems facing the PCT could be about to escalate, following a forthcoming review of nursing care. She said: "Patients that are currently eligible for funded nursing care are to be reassessed.

"The financial risk is not yet known and we are working with our colleagues to work out what impact it will have."

Last year, the PCT put in place a series of measures to save as much money as possible before the financial year ended, including suspending a wide range of hospital procedures.

GPs who felt their patients urgently needed any of these procedures were asked to send them to a special prior approval panel of PCT staff, which had the power to either reject or approve cases based on how "exceptional" they were.

The Press has campaigned strongly against this panel in our Let Your Doctor Decide campaign, after doctors said it would seriously impact on patient care and could even put lives at risk.

More grievances against PCT

COMPLAINTS against North Yorkshire and York Primary Care Trust (PCT) rocketed in the first three months of the year.

The number of grievances lodged between January and March more than doubled from the final quarter of last year - increasing from 51 to 115.

In particular, there were a high number of grievances against out-of-hours services, mental health services, commissioned services and independent contractors. Complaints made in the Selby and York area of the PCT accounted for almost half the total number of complaints, with only 58 per cent of these being responded to within 25 working days.

In the PCT's annual report, the chief executive Dr Janet Soo-Chung said: "The PCT regards the reporting of complaints very seriously and takes these into account in improving services."

Health chiefs in waiting times deadline battle

GOVERNMENT waiting-time targets have fallen by the wayside as health bosses struggle to claw back £33 million of debt.

New figures reveal between April and July, North Yorkshire and York Primary Care Trust (PCT) failed to meet a significant number of deadlines.

There were 42 breaches in the 20-week waiting time for inpatients to be seen and 25 breaches in the 11-week waiting time for outpatients to be seen.

The PCT also failed to meet diagnostic waiting times - with about 700 patients waiting more than 13 weeks for the 15 key tests.

In other priority areas - including the 62-day diagnosis-to-treatment deadline for cancer patients, ambulance response times and four-hour A&E waits - there were no breaches.

At yesterday's PCT board meeting, chief executive, Dr Janet Soo-Chung, said they had not been given any slack, despite the fact they were attempting to recover millions of pounds of debt.

Bill Redlin, director of performance and delivery, said diagnostic waiting times were a particular problem. He said: "Diagnostics continue to present a major challenge for us and we will have to tackle that if we are to progress. We do have a small number of breaches elsewhere, but overall, we look set to achieve our milestones by the end of the year."

A special board has now been set up to make sure the PCT meets all its targets.