Sponsored by
NHS Peterborough faces mounting debt problem
BOSSES at Peterborough's debt-hit primary care trust have vowed to tackle their mounting deficit by "ratcheting up" their recovery plan.
BOSSES at Peterborough's debt-hit primary care trust have vowed to tackle their mounting deficit by "ratcheting up" their recovery plan.At a crisis meeting of NHS Peterborough's board yesterday, interim finance director Ken Sharp said they were in an "extremely challenging position" but had an action plan in place to claw back some of the 9.6 million debt that the PCT is in.
It includes:
Not spending any more cash outside of its budget unless it is unavoidable to save 2.7 million by the year's end.
Ensuring it is not paying over-the-odds to contractors providing services.
Reducing staffing costs.
Cutting management consultants.
The ET revealed on Tuesday that NHS Peterborough was over budget across all services, with soaring demand on emergency care, more patients needing long-term care and people not using the appropriate health services being blamed.
When The ET asked the trust what the cause of the increased demand on services was, no senior member of staff was available to comment.
The extent of the cash crisis is 2 million worse than feared just last month, and trust chairman councillor Marco Cereste admitted it had failed to manage the budget as well as it should have.
At the meeting, Mr Sharp said: "It is an extremely challenging position for the board. The PCT is required not to exceed its resource limit for each year, and, at the moment, there appears to be quite a significant overspend developing."
He said the PCT could find itself 12 million in the red by the end of the financial year if no action was taken.
But he added: "There is already an action plan in place. There was a financial recovery plan to deal with earlier issues, and it will be ratcheted up even further to ensure there is no expenditure unless it is unavoidable in meeting existing contracts or if it puts clients at risk.
"We have contracts that we have to maintain, but it's important we challenge providers so contracts are tightly controlled and we are not paying more than absolutely necessary."
Mr Sharp said the situation would impact on next year's budget, because the overspend would need to be paid back to the Government.
He said: "It will make planning even more difficult, and there will be difficult choices to be made during the next two months for next year's plan.
"It is difficult to indicate exactly the amount required to meet any gap that arises as a result of this year, but that will be determined over the course of the next month."
Cllr Cereste said: "Yes it should have been planned and yes, it should have been foreseen, but the money has been spent on meeting people's health needs."
What trust does...
NHS Peterborough holds the purse strings for health provision for more than 160,000 people in the city and surrounding areas.
It funds and oversees primary care services, such as GPs, dentists and opticians; secondary care, including hospitals and mental health services; and directly provides health and adult social care services in the community, such as home care and district nursing.
For example, it commissions the East of England Ambulance NHS Trust to carry out its duties, Peterborough and Stamford NHS Foundation Trust to run the hospital services and the NHS Direct helpline, which provides health information.
The organisation also funds, buys and oversees other specialist treatments and adult social care provided by the independent sector.
It employs 1,650 staff; 180 through NHS Peterborough and 1,470 through Peterborough Community Services (PCS).
In 2009/10, its budget was set at 320.589 million, but projections show it is expected to actually spend 332.622 million if no further action is taken to recover the situation.
The doctor's view
Dr Koneru Prasad is a GP at Westwood Clinic, in Wicken Way.
He does not believe doctors are referring too many people to hospital, and feels the issue is about informing patients that A&E is not always the first port of call.
He said: "GPs very rarely send people to hospital. They do only if they feel it's necessary.
"The PCT and local health community should be making use of the media. They should say, 'this is the situation. This is your money and your health'.
"Doctors can only do so much. People need to make use of GP services wherever possible and go to the City Care Centre, in Thorpe Road.
"Patients need to understand that if they go to A&E on their own, it costs even more money, and there is only so much in the pot."
He also said that budgets should be handed back to GP practices to manage.
Patient's perspective
Health representative of the Peterborough Pensioners' Association Mary Cooke said patient education should be the PCT's watchwords.
She said some people automatically head to casualty when they have a health concern because they do not realise they can use other services such as the City Care Centre instead.
She said: "People feel safe going to casualty and are not sure that if they go to other places, they will be sent somewhere else. People have always seen A&E as a necessity in life. It's a habit.
"I also wonder whether some immigrants using A&E understand what it is there for.
"I think the PCT should use newspapers and the radio to plug other services.
"It's about communicating the information to the right groups in a better way.
"People turn off because there have been so many changes."
NHS East of England
NHS East of England provides strategic leadership to NHS Peterborough.
It is responsible for ensuring that the 8.1 billion spent on health care in the region delivers the best services and value for both patients and the tax-payer.
A spokeswoman said: "We provide support to NHS organisations to ensure they have robust financial plans to meet their statutory duty to achieve financial balance and live within their means.
"NHS Peterborough is currently forecasting a deficit of 9.8 million. The PCT and its turnaround team are working on a financial recovery plan with us. In accordance with normal NHS procedures, NHS East of England has given the PCT a loan of 6 million to enable it to continue to pay suppliers and ensure services are not disrupted.
"This loan is not part of the deficit and is fully repayable."
Email to a friend
Print this page
Looking for...
Featured advertisers
Jobs
Search for a job
Motors
Search for a car
Property
Search for a house
Weather for Peterborough
Friday 25 May 2012
Today
Sunny
Temperature: 11 C to 24 C
Wind Speed: 20 mph
Wind direction: East
Tomorrow
Sunny
Temperature: 11 C to 21 C
Wind Speed: 21 mph
Wind direction: East
Your view
Please sign in to be able to comment on this story.