An NHS
hospital trust is on course to be placed in a form of special measures
after accumulating a deficit of £150m dating back to what the government
has described as an "unaffordable" private finance initiative signed
under Labour.
The South London Healthcare Trust, which runs three hospitals in south-east London, is expected to become the first trust to be placed in the "unsustainable providers regime". Under powers introduced by Labour in 2009 Lansley would appoint an administrator to run the trust. The health secretary served notice on the trust, which runs Queen Mary's in Sidcup, Queen Elizabeth in Woolwich and the Princess Royal University hospital in Bromley, that he is minded to place it under control of a Trust Special Administrator. This would lead to the suspension of non-executive directors and would deprive executives, such as the finance director, of their positions on the trust's board.
Lansley moved to pre-empt a Labour attack by saying that many of the problems dated back to a £2.5bn deal signed by the last government under the private finance initiative (PFI), to rebuild the Bromley and Woolwich hospitals. This costs the trust £61m a year, 14.4% of its income, and will last until 2029-2030 in the case of the Queen Elizabeth hospital Woolwich and 2031-2032 in the case of the Princess Royal hospital in Bromley.
Lansley wrote in his letter to the trust: "A central objective for all providers is to ensure they deliver high quality services to patients that are clinically and financially sustainable for the long term. I recognise that South London Healthcare NHS Trust faces deep and longstanding challenges, some of which are not of its own making. "Nonetheless, there must be a point when these problems, however they have arisen, are tackled. I believe we are almost at this point.
"I have sought to provide NHS organisations with the help and support they need to provide these high quality, sustainable services to their patients, which South London Healthcare NHS Trust stands to benefit from. However, even after this support has been provided, your organisation still expects to be in need of significant financial resources from other parts of the NHS and I cannot permit this to continue. That is why I am considering using these powers.
"I appreciate that any decision to use these powers will be unsettling for staff, but I want to stress that the powers are being considered now so that patients in south-east London have hospital services that have a sustainable future. This will benefit patients and bring more certainty to staff, the public and other local stakeholders. I am determined to improve healthcare services for patients in south-east London and will take whatever difficult steps are necessary to achieve this."
A Department of Health source said: "This hospital trust was brought to the brink of bankruptcy by Labour. It is losing £1m a week, money which could be spent on 1,200 extra nurses for local people. Labour turned a blind eye to these problems for years, they burdened it with two unaffordable PFI contracts worth £61m a year and they crippled the organisation with debt from the beginning.
"The standard of care that patients receive at the hospital trust is not good enough, although there have been some improvements in recent months. It is crucial that those improvements are not put at risk by the challenge of finding the huge savings that the trust needs to make. We don't want a repeat of Stafford where crude attempts to balance the books had tragic consequences.
"This will clearly be a difficult and controversial process, but we are determined to turn this trust around so the patients in south-east London get the care they deserve. Unlike the last government we will not duck the difficult decisions if they are what is needed."
A source at the trust said that the action by Lansley was prompted entirely by debt and not by the quality of clinical care. "This is about historic debt. The quality of care has improved measurably. We have achieved some of the lowest mortality rates over the last 18 months. Infection rates are also three times lower than the national average."
Mike Farrar, the chief executive of the NHS Confederation, welcomed the move, which follows a call at his organisation's recent annual conference for the government to support the redesign of services. Farrar said: "To recover the kind of sums you are facing in south London you really do need wholesale redesign of services in order to get something sustainable for the future rather than keeping on changing management. Therefore we welcome the fact that the secretary of state is seemingly now responding to that call for action.
"There have been a number of different management teams in there, so I don't think you could say it has been down to the failure of any particular manager. This is a difficult system and it needs this kind of radical action to put it into that regime where an individual can go in and look at the situation in the round to get sensible solutions. This is about sustaining the services in south London for the next 20 to 30 years, not about limping through."
In a statement the South London Healthcare NHS Trust said: "We have entered into discussions with the Department of Health and NHS London on the best future for the trust and our priority, and that of others involved, is to make sure that our longstanding and well-known financial issues are resolved. Our staff have worked hard for patients and in spite of significant financial issues, we are extremely proud that we now have among the lowest mortality and infection rates in the country.
"We expect these discussions to come to a conclusion in the second week in July when a decision will be taken by the secretary of state. In the meantime we can reassure local patients and the public that our staff will continue to provide services as normal."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2012/jun/25/nhs-trust-special-measures-debt
The South London Healthcare Trust, which runs three hospitals in south-east London, is expected to become the first trust to be placed in the "unsustainable providers regime". Under powers introduced by Labour in 2009 Lansley would appoint an administrator to run the trust. The health secretary served notice on the trust, which runs Queen Mary's in Sidcup, Queen Elizabeth in Woolwich and the Princess Royal University hospital in Bromley, that he is minded to place it under control of a Trust Special Administrator. This would lead to the suspension of non-executive directors and would deprive executives, such as the finance director, of their positions on the trust's board.
Lansley moved to pre-empt a Labour attack by saying that many of the problems dated back to a £2.5bn deal signed by the last government under the private finance initiative (PFI), to rebuild the Bromley and Woolwich hospitals. This costs the trust £61m a year, 14.4% of its income, and will last until 2029-2030 in the case of the Queen Elizabeth hospital Woolwich and 2031-2032 in the case of the Princess Royal hospital in Bromley.
Lansley wrote in his letter to the trust: "A central objective for all providers is to ensure they deliver high quality services to patients that are clinically and financially sustainable for the long term. I recognise that South London Healthcare NHS Trust faces deep and longstanding challenges, some of which are not of its own making. "Nonetheless, there must be a point when these problems, however they have arisen, are tackled. I believe we are almost at this point.
"I have sought to provide NHS organisations with the help and support they need to provide these high quality, sustainable services to their patients, which South London Healthcare NHS Trust stands to benefit from. However, even after this support has been provided, your organisation still expects to be in need of significant financial resources from other parts of the NHS and I cannot permit this to continue. That is why I am considering using these powers.
"I appreciate that any decision to use these powers will be unsettling for staff, but I want to stress that the powers are being considered now so that patients in south-east London have hospital services that have a sustainable future. This will benefit patients and bring more certainty to staff, the public and other local stakeholders. I am determined to improve healthcare services for patients in south-east London and will take whatever difficult steps are necessary to achieve this."
A Department of Health source said: "This hospital trust was brought to the brink of bankruptcy by Labour. It is losing £1m a week, money which could be spent on 1,200 extra nurses for local people. Labour turned a blind eye to these problems for years, they burdened it with two unaffordable PFI contracts worth £61m a year and they crippled the organisation with debt from the beginning.
"The standard of care that patients receive at the hospital trust is not good enough, although there have been some improvements in recent months. It is crucial that those improvements are not put at risk by the challenge of finding the huge savings that the trust needs to make. We don't want a repeat of Stafford where crude attempts to balance the books had tragic consequences.
"This will clearly be a difficult and controversial process, but we are determined to turn this trust around so the patients in south-east London get the care they deserve. Unlike the last government we will not duck the difficult decisions if they are what is needed."
A source at the trust said that the action by Lansley was prompted entirely by debt and not by the quality of clinical care. "This is about historic debt. The quality of care has improved measurably. We have achieved some of the lowest mortality rates over the last 18 months. Infection rates are also three times lower than the national average."
Mike Farrar, the chief executive of the NHS Confederation, welcomed the move, which follows a call at his organisation's recent annual conference for the government to support the redesign of services. Farrar said: "To recover the kind of sums you are facing in south London you really do need wholesale redesign of services in order to get something sustainable for the future rather than keeping on changing management. Therefore we welcome the fact that the secretary of state is seemingly now responding to that call for action.
"There have been a number of different management teams in there, so I don't think you could say it has been down to the failure of any particular manager. This is a difficult system and it needs this kind of radical action to put it into that regime where an individual can go in and look at the situation in the round to get sensible solutions. This is about sustaining the services in south London for the next 20 to 30 years, not about limping through."
In a statement the South London Healthcare NHS Trust said: "We have entered into discussions with the Department of Health and NHS London on the best future for the trust and our priority, and that of others involved, is to make sure that our longstanding and well-known financial issues are resolved. Our staff have worked hard for patients and in spite of significant financial issues, we are extremely proud that we now have among the lowest mortality and infection rates in the country.
"We expect these discussions to come to a conclusion in the second week in July when a decision will be taken by the secretary of state. In the meantime we can reassure local patients and the public that our staff will continue to provide services as normal."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2012/jun/25/nhs-trust-special-measures-debt
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