Coventry University Hospital fearing fresh cuts of £28m

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Bosses at Coventry’s University Hospital fear they will have to cut another £28million from their budget over the next 12 months.


Rugby St Cross

A recruitment freeze and closing beds helped them make similar savings during the last financial year.

But finance chiefs are warning more pain lies ahead.

Managers at University Hospital at Walsgrave and Rugby St Cross say their cost-cutting helped them claw back the £8.5million deficit they ran up last year as they struggled to make savings.

They are now on track to deliver the small surplus required by the end of the month.

But they have already warned they face an even bigger challenge during 2012/13 as national cutbacks continue to bite.

Gail Nolan, the hospitals’ newly appointed chief finance officer, said: “We are probably looking at having to save something similar or even higher next year.

“It is getting tougher.”

The NHS nationally has been ordered to find £20billion of efficiency savings over five years, which will then be reinvested into healthcare.

That means all hospitals and health trusts have to save £1 for every £25 they spend each year until 2014.

Last summer UHCW NHS Trust - which runs University Hospital and Rugby St Cross slipped behind its savings targets and had to take dramatic action to get back on track.

That included shutting Birch Ward at St Cross, banning agency staff and asking staff to buy extra holiday.

It later hiked staff parking charges by 40 per cent as it said it could not afford to subsidise the costs while making such severe savings.

Mrs Nolan said some steps taken late last year would save more money during the next 12 months.

However, she admitted some measures - such as the recruitment freeze - could not continue indefinitely.

She said: “I can’t imagine we could ever condone a long term recruitment freeze - it is not feasible for clinical safety.

“We couldn’t expose patients to that kind of risk. It must always be a measured response to the financial challenges we face.”

Relaxing recruitment and overtime bans will put further pressure on the hospital to deliver more savings.

If congestion busting plans for a second entrance and more parking spaces get the go ahead bosses must also to find funds to start the multi-million project.

Meanwhile, falling referrals and rising A&E admissions continue to put pressure on hospital budgets.

UHCW must get a grip on its finances fast to convince regulators it can manage its money - one of the key criteria is must meet to become a Foundation Trust (FT) next year.

Official papers presented to the trust board last month showed its finances were a risk factor that could undermine its FT application.

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Coventry and Warwickshire hospitals face £60million cuts

HOSPITALS in Coventry and Warwickshire could have to save more than £60million in just 12 months, a Telegraph investigation has found.

Their budgets are being cut twice – once by the government and again by GPs who are reducing hospital spending.

University Hospital and Rugby St Cross are worst affected, facing combined cuts of up to £40million.

That means slashing £1 for every £11 they spend, despite struggling with a smaller target last year.

Coun David Welsh, chairman of the health scrutiny committee at Coventry City Council, fears such large cuts are unsustainable.

“I don’t see how can the hospital be expected to save even more this year,” he said.

“I think it is unrealistic.”

Bosses University Hospital and St Cross closed beds and froze all job vacancies to meet their £28million savings target last year.

Yet they will have to cut even more during this financial year – at least £28.8million and up to £40million.

That is between six and 9.5per cent of their overall budget.

George Eliot has also faced financial hardship but must save £6.8 million, six per cent of its budget.

And the Partnership Trust, which runs the Caludon Centre mental hospital and community health, must save £10.2million (five per cent).

South Warwickshire Foundation Trust, which runs Warwick Hospital, has to cut just 3.5 per cent of its budget (£7million) despite its stronger financial footing.

Politicians are worried that hospitals with the most uncertain futures face the biggest cuts.

University Hospital’s money woes have already delayed its vital Foundation Trust bid, while George Eliot is considering turning to a private partner to secure its future.

Coventry MP Jim Cunningham said he feared the cuts could drive those hospitals and more patients into the private sector, where firms were queuing up to make profits from healthcare.

All NHS trusts must make four per cent savings every year until 2014 to save £20billion nationally.

However, many Coventry and Warwickshire hospitals are facing far bigger cuts in the next 12 months.

That is because GP groups who are taking over local NHS budgets must also make four per cent cuts and are targeting hospital spending.

In Coventry they will try to save £11million – nearly two thirds of their target – by slashing their contract with University Hospital.

The Telegraph revealed this month how GPs will soon be paid £30 to cancel hospital appointments.

That follows a new triage system designed to cut patient referrals and therefore hospital revenue.

By contrast GPs will cut spending on primary care – their own field – by just £2.3million (13 per cent).

A spokeswoman for the GP leaders, known as Clinical Commissioning Groups, told the Telegraph many primary care contracts were set nationally so it was harder to make savings.

She said primary care was also the first line of response and could reduce the cost of long term illness so investment in this area should be sustained.

A Department of Health spokesman said the NHS had proved it could meet government targets by saving £7billion while improving performance since 2010.

He said local health chiefs could demand extra savings from hospitals if they were changing services to treat more patients closer to home.

“We are investing an extra £12.5billion in the NHS but we need to make every penny count,” he said.