NHS trust brings in specialists to help in £58m savings drive

The savings come on top of the £36.9m reduction in costs the organisation generated last year

A hospital trust has brought in "specialist support" to achieve a £58m savings target.

Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (LTH), which runs the Royal Preston and Chorley and South Ribble hospitals, is aiming to deliver the savings during the current financial year.

The trust reduced costs by £36.9m in 2023/24, the most it has ever managed to save in a 12-month period.

The figures were contained in a briefing sent to stakeholders in May.

The document – issued before the general election was called – stressed the budgetary belt-tightening was part of a three-year plan to ensure not just "financial stability", but also "quality improvements".

However, chief executive Silas Nicholls and chairman Peter White warned that in the short term, there were "a number of additional controls around vacancies, agency and bank spending and tight restrictions on non-pay and discretionary pay items which will be challenging for our colleagues".

The report said that even if the trust reaches its £58m savings ambition by the end of 2024/25, its books would still not be balanced and a £24.3m deficit would remain.

In the briefing, which was sent to partner organisations and MPs, Mr Nicholls and Mr White said they were bringing in "short-term specialist support to help us identify areas where savings can be made".

They said the support would also "develop sustainable and credible cost improvement plans".

They also paid tribute to the "huge effort" made by staff to help improve the financial position and acknowledged the two hospitals were experiencing increased demand for patient services.

It is understood that an aim to generate savings from procurement will form a key part of how LTH seeks to achieve its £58m savings aim by next March.