Shropshire Star

Shrewsbury and Telford hospitals expect to be £8 million in debt

Shropshire's two main hospitals are already more than £5 million in the red – and are expected to be £8 million in debt by April.

Published

Shrewsbury and Telford Hospitals NHS Trust, which runs the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital and Telford's Princess Royal Hospital, had agreed a £5.9m deficit with health bosses for 2016/17.

But the latest figures show the trust is already £5.1m in the red after five months of the financial year, from April to August.

The trust's finance director Neil Nisbet is predicting an forecast overspend by the end of the financial year of £8.429m.

It comes as health chiefs prepare to unveil the preferred option next week for Future Fit, a shake-up of health services in the county to help cut costs and save money.

It has previously been reported that the closure of one of the two A&E units at Royal Shrewsbury or Princess Royal would save £22m a year – although it would require hundreds of millions of pounds in capital to complete.

The latest deficit, although higher than predicted, would still be lower than the £14.649m recorded by the trust last year.

As health chiefs consider cost-cutting measures, it has been revealed staff who live less than one mile away from the hospital they work at will no longer be eligible for discounted parking. A hospital trust board meeting will be told tomorrow that permits will no longer be automatically handed out to staff who live close to their place of work – meaning they face paying public rates.

Trust finance director Neil Nisbet said: "We are working towards delivering a £5.9m deficit by the end of 2016/17.

"One of the key areas where we are looking to reduce costs is spending on agency staff, and we are continuing our efforts to do this.

"The significant reduction in the last two months has been down to the efforts of our staff who have been looking to reduce costs where they can without compromising patient safety or experience."

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