Hospitals in Shropshire to borrow £17 million in cash crisis

Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust is expecting to overspend by £18.2 million over the next financial year.

It is to borrow £8.4 million now, rising to a total of £17 million by the end of the year.

It blamed £1.5 million of the overspend on costs of having to reschedule operations cancelled because of pressure on beds.

New development at Princess Royal Hospital in Telford, including the new women's unit, has also increased financial pressure.

The trust, which also runs Royal Shrewsbury Hospital, previously accessed borrowing from the Department of Health.

It says that system has now been replaced by a new system that provides more flexibility to cover the trust's "short term fluctuating cash requirements".

Neil Nisbet, finance director, said the trust will apply for an initial limit of £8.4 million, which represents the equivalent of 10 days operating expenditure.

At a meeting of Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust board, Mr Nisbet said: "If there is a requirement for more than this initial cash limit we can apply for it.

"There is a limit of 30 days equivalent operating expenditure which for us would be about £25 million.

"This £8.4 million is the first instalment which will become £17 million by the end of the year – that is how much we need to borrow."

The trust has two years to pay the money back and will be charged an interest rate of 3.5 per cent.

The meeting was told services were being maintained.

Sarah Bloomfield, director of nursing and quality, said the hospitals plan to focus on three key priorities – improving skills to better support patients, working to improve patient experience across boundaries of care and working together with wider NHS to help deliver national priorities.