Shropshire NHS trust on track to cut deficit by £3 million
Health chiefs at Shropshire's two main hospitals are on track to reduce their forecast deficit by £3 million.
The savings have been found by officials at Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust through a reduction in using agency nurses and further cost-cutting measures, a meeting of the trust's board was told.
The trust, which runs the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital and Telford's Princess Royal, is now expected to have a £15.2 million deficit by the end of the current financial year.
The figure would meet a target set by the Trust Development Authority after an end-of-year deficit of £18.2 million was forecast before Christmas. Some of the savings have been made due to the trust using less agency staff and recruiting fewer agency staff.
In December the first group of nurses recruited from the Philippines started work at Princess Royal Hospital in Telford. They followed nine other new recruits who joined the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital in October and November. Trust officials are planning to return to the Philippines in February to recruit again.
Neil Nisbet, the trust's finance director, said he was confident the trust would reach its target. Speaking at yesterday's meeting in Telford, he said: "Yes, we should achieve the £15.2 million target. "We have every reason that we will achieve it. We were heading for a £18.2 million deficit but immediate controls were put in place to stop that.
"We put controls in place aimed at securing agency cost savings over the remaining month of the year. These amounted to £625,000 and general cost savings distributed across the trust also helped.
"It is clear that the objective of encouraging a switch from agency to bank nursing staff appears to have been realised. The savings reduces the end of year deficit to £14.6 million.
"However, subsequent discussions with Shropshire CCG have highlighted their intention to increase the level of penalties applied against the trust for failing to achieve certain targets. The effect of the increased penalties increases the end of year deficit by a further £500,000. At the end of December the trust is presently £627,000 ahead of the expected position."
Simon Wright, chief executive of the trust, said everyone who had worked on reducing the deficit should be thanked.
He said: "A huge amount of work has been done to reduce the deficit from £18.2 million to £15.2 million. It is a great credit to the board members and staff from across the trust. Better controls mean that we are on schedule to meet our £15.2 million stretch target."
A total of more than 60 nurses from the Philippines are in the process of being recruited, after accepting conditional offers to work at the hospitals in Shrewsbury and Telford.
Victoria Maher, workforce director at the trust, said: "Twelve Filippino nurses have arrived in the trust and we are now supporting them to complete their OSCE tests and obtain NMC registration.
"We anticipate that this cohort will be fully registered by February and March.
"Further nurses are expected to arrive between now and the spring.
"A return visit is planned in February and we expect nurses from this recruitment exercise to arrive with us in late 2016 and early 2017."
