Southend Hospital’s deficit is set to spiral to £17.6million within the next two months, sparking fears some services, like fertility treatment, could be at risk.

The hospital has blamed severe winter pressures, cancelled operations, strikes, and Government fines for a major funding black hole that could see the hospital’s deficit almost double by the end of this financial year.

Last week, the Echo revealed the hospital had spent £688,000 to hire consultancy firm, Kingsgate, to advise bosses how to save money.

A “transformation programme”, which Kingsgate oversaw, has saved £9.9million so far this year but has failed to stem the huge deficit increase predicted for the end of the year.

A hospital governor, Lib Dem councillor Alan Crystall blamed Government cutbacks and warned of cuts in the service. He said: “It will take time. The Government is cutting faster than we are capable of coping with.

“There is a lot of planning going on, that’s why the hospital appointed consultants to save money, but we can’t expect those changes to happen overnight.”

He added: “The hospital employs around 400 people. It is like a small town.

“If it gets worse, there will be some things they will have to stop. Fertility treatments, for example, are very expensive. In America they did a state-by-state poll of what healthcare to prioritise, and if you don’t have any money, you have to choose what you can provide.”

The hospital, which has been on black and critical alerts several times over Christmas, had to spend £800,000 on “winter resilience”, while the junior doctor’s strike cost £400,000, with planned strikes estimated to set the trust back another £1.3million.

Because of staff shortages, the hospital posted its highest agency spend in a year during November, spending £1.6million on stop-gap staff.

The hospital’s problems have also meant it consistently failed its four-hour A&E Government target, amongst others, attracting fines of £500,000. In addition, it has lost payments from commissioning agencies for operations which have been cancelled due to bed shortages and strikes.

Despite being millions of pounds in debt, the hospital still has the lowest deficit in Essex.

With Basildon Hospital also some £23million in deficit at the end of 2014/15, a healthcare overhaul in south Essex is planned, called the Essex Success Regime, which is expected to see closer collaboration between our NHS organisations.

James Moyies, Southend councillor responsible for health, said: “The situation for health services in Essex is dire. If nothing is done the annual deficit will be £200million in three of four years, that’s why we need the Essex Success regime to be successful.

“There is no doubt that the hospitals will have to work closer together, and staff work in unison with each other, not in competition, and there needs to be a fundamental change in healthcare in south Essex with more money put into prevention and adult social care.”

Despite its problems the hospital was ranked as one of the top ten most efficient in the whole country in 2014-15.

 

Winter pressures to blame - hospital

Southend Hospital has said the well-documented winter pressures has forced it to revise its financial position.

The hospital has had to declare a number of black and critical alerts because of heavy pressure, and has missed a string of A&E targets.

Sue Hardy, the hospital’s chief executive, said: “Our financial position has been revised in light of several factors during the winter period so far.

“The sustained emergency pressures on the hospital have resulted in cancellation of elective operations and the opening of additional beds.

“This means that the trust has experienced a reduced income from planned operations and increased expenditure through staffing and running additional beds. The junior doctors’ industrial action resulted in additional cancellations of planned operations in advance of the anticipated action, including the day when action was suspended and operations could not be rescheduled at short notice.”

She added that Kingsgate, who helped develop the “transformation programme”, a cost-cutting initiative, is estimated to save £13million before the end of the year.

And last week, Labour Peer Lord Carter’s report argued that bed blocking is costing the nhs £900m a year.

Jon Findlay, chief operating officer at the hospital, said: “In preparation for winter we worked with our partners to identify potential areas for extra beds to be opened in the community for patients who required additional support following discharge from hospital having been assessed as medically fit.”