York and Scarborough Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust seeks £8m cash support

The organisation that runs York and Scarborough hospitals reported an adjusted deficit of £18.4m at the halfway point of the financial year, around £9.2m behind its planned position, a new finance report states.

The Trust is currently forecasting a deficit of £30.5m under its mid-range scenario and £45.5m under its worst-case scenario.

Speaking at a board meeting on Wednesday, October 28, the Trust’s finance director Andrew Bertram said the position had deteriorated further during the first six months of the year.

“We’ve delivered £24.7m against the £31.8m year-to-date position,” he told health leaders.

When projected across the full year, that equates to approximately £35m of savings delivered against a £66m target, leaving the Trust around £7m behind where it needs to be.

Mr Bertram said continued shortfalls in the Trust’s financial recovery programme remained one of the biggest pressures on the organisation’s finances.

However, he told board members that, for the first time, enough schemes had now been identified on paper to meet the £66m savings target.

He cautioned that around £8m worth of those plans remain classed as high risk.

The Trust is also awaiting a decision from NHS England on an £8m cash support application submitted earlier this year.

Board chairman Martin Barkley warned colleagues not to underestimate the scale of the challenge still facing the organisation.

“It’s just important that we all recognise that risk is there,” he said.

“We don’t want to get to a point come March or April where people suddenly say they didn’t know that was happening.”

He added that the Trust’s financial position currently sat somewhere between its mid-range and worst-case forecasts and that the next few months would be critical.

Mr Bertram agreed, telling the meeting that if the Trust simply repeated its first-half performance in the second half of the year it would end up with a deficit of about £36m.

Executives said a major focus remains reducing spending on temporary medical staffing and delivering recovery plans within individual care groups.

Chief executive Clare Smith said financial recovery remained essential if the organisation was to invest in services, staff and infrastructure in future.

“The best we can do is keep focusing,” she said.

“Because we know our ability to invest in the future, our ability to recruit our workforce and our services is critical to having a sustainable financial plan.”

Trust leaders said they expected the next two months to provide a clearer indication of whether recovery measures were succeeding and whether the organisation could avoid drifting towards its worst-case financial position.