Hospital trust continues to battle £18.6m deficit

Chief executive Jo Williams said she was being honest about the challenges faced by Shrewsbury and Telford Hospitals NHS Trust

A hospital trust's deficit could have been more than £70m if it had not received government support, a meeting has been told.

The Shrewsbury and Telford Hospitals NHS Trust board was told it had posted an £18.6m deficit at the end of the financial year.

However, trust chairman Andrew Morgan said the figures were "misleading" in light of it having receiving two support packages of £44m and £10m and without them, the deficit would have been "the £70s of millions".

He added: "That is unacceptable, stating the blindingly obvious."

The position has improved as the trust previously posted a deficit as high as £100m, the Local Democracy Reporting Service said.

The trust has been told it will not have to get a balanced budget in one financial year.

Richard Miner, who chairs the trust's Finance Assurance Committee, said: "We have got to be on the button in terms of performance. It is a big year."

He said the trust was looking to use new technology to reduce its reliance on agency staff

But the possibility of redundancies among the near 8,000 strong workforce was not discussed at Thursday's meeting and a recruitment freeze for "non-critical" roles remains in place.

Jo Williams, the trust's chief executive, said she was "being honest" about the challenges the organisation faced but promised the trust would "not compromise on patient safety".

The board was told that it had cash balances of £61.8m but a new modular ward would require "substantial outlay and cash balances will need to be monitored closely".

This news was gathered by the Local Democracy Reporting Service which covers councils and other public service organisations.