Hospitals to cut agency staff amid £14m deficit
Sherwood Forest Hospitals NHS Trust expects to have a £14m deficit in the coming year
- Published
NHS bosses in Nottinghamshire are looking to reduce their use of agency staff to cut costs.
Sherwood Forest Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust runs King’s Mill and Newark hospitals, as well as Mansfield Community Hospital in Stockwell Gate.
It expects to have a £14m deficit in the coming year, up from about £11m in the previous 12 months.
It is looking to cut “high-cost” temporary staffing by about 100 roles to help save £3.3m in the financial year 2024-25.
The Local Democracy Reporting Service said the trust was hoping to save £38m, of which £22m may be unachievable.
During a board meeting on Thursday, chief financial officer Richard Mills said it was facing a “real challenge”.
"Our 2024-25 plan sets out an ambition to improve our clinical and operational performance to improve the lives of our people and patients,” he said.
“[It] recognises our need to reduce high cost temporary staffing.”
'Under pressure'
Despite the expected deficit, the trust says it is planning to improve its A&E wait times by about 6%, meaning it aims to see 78% of all patients within four hours by March.
It is also looking to cut 65-week waits for planned care and operations to zero by September.
There had been 347 patients waiting longer than 65 weeks in February this year.
Acting chief executive David Selwyn said in his report the trust was facing “extremely high demand” in A&E, as well as future strike action.
“This sustained high demand has meant that our urgent and emergency care pathway remains under pressure, with patients having to wait longer than we would wish for treatment and admission,” the report says.
“We have put in place escalation actions, including implementing our full capacity protocol, on several occasions to help improve the timeliness of patient care."
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