Shropshire NHS chiefs among those called to London for meeting at 'short notice' over spending

The leaders, from across the country, included the chief executive of The Shrewsbury and Telford NHS Trust and the officials from Shropshire Community Health NHS Trust (Shropcom).

There was an audible gasp at SaTH’s board meeting in Shrewsbury on Thursday when the hospitals’ trust board chairman read from a BBC News alert that “the biggest quango in the world”, NHS England, is being abolished. NHS England provides oversight of services.

Andrew Morgan, the chair in common of SaTH and Shropcom, said: “There is a short notice meeting for chairs and financial officers about the financial situation in the NHS going into 2025-26.

“I didn’t go because I thought chairing this meeting was more important but I will be updating you as the meeting goes on.”

Mr Morgan said the meeting in the capital was to “set the stall out” for NHS organisations and to tell leaders that “deficits need to go.”

“We need to get things back on an even footing. The Integrated Care Board in Shropshire has been asked to reduce its running costs by 50 per cent by December, it is a big ask,” he said.

Mr Morgan added that he “expected something to be said about SaTH’s running costs,” he added.

“We can expect downward pressure on our running costs.”

The meeting was told that a forecast deficit is deepening at SaTH, driven by “workforce” pressures.

“We need to really push to get every ounce of value out of every pound that the public gives us. There are significant concerns about our financial position and there is clearly lots of work to be done,” said Mr Morgan.

The meeting was told that they will be looking at “back office costs” and seeking to use technology more. But the Local Democracy Reporting Service was told that redundancies at SaTH are not on the agenda. The board was told that staff would be asked to adopt “culture change” and “change the way they work.”

Teresa Boughey, Non-Executive Director, said the “reform agenda” would mean that all roles would need to be reviewed “across the workforce.

“We need to make sure there are no sacred cows. We need to do things differently,” she said.

Mr Morgan said: “We don’t have our system model right. We have minor injuries units which can’t do certain things and patients end up having to go to Accident & Emergency.”

Board members were told that across the NHS system as a whole, which includes hospitals and community services, they would be told that they cannot breach £84million as a maximum deficit.

The board was told that SaTH’s financial situation has worsened from having a budget deficit of £17.2million to £22.7 million, and expects to finish the year between £23.3 and £29.3 million by the end of the financial year.

Finance chiefs think their budget overspend will be £28.8million by the end of the financial year in April 2025. And that includes a cash injection of some £44 million that it has already received.

Mr Morgan said that is “entirely unacceptable” and that the trust’s chief executive Jo Williams was being told at the meeting in London that “we absolutely need to get a grip on this.”

Mr Morgan said: “We cannot afford the costs that we have currently got. We can’t find ourselves in this position next year.”

The board went into private session to discuss the financial issues further.