East Kent NHS trust facing new forecast deficit of £117m

The trust runs hospitals in Ashford, Canterbury, Dover, Folkestone and Margate

A hospital trust in east Kent is facing a new forecast deficit of more than £117m, its board members have been told.

East Kent Hospitals trust bosses said its costs were "unacceptable" and it would need to make "ambitious" savings targets next year.

By the end of January, the trust had a deficit of £84m, papers revealed.

Chief finance officer Tim Glenn said by December the trust was losing about £10m per month.

He told the board there would be a new forecast deficit of £117.4m.

The trust's financial situation was revealed in papers for a meeting of the board of directors on 2 February.

The original plan for the trust, which runs hospitals in Ashford, Canterbury, Dover, Folkestone and Margate, was budgeting for a deficit of £72m in the 2023/24 financial year.

But by December it was already running at a deficit of almost £70m, the Local Democracy Reporting Service said.

As a result of the overspend, the trust needs to make a minimum of £49m of savings next year.

Detailed plans on how to make those savings are expected in March.

Analysis

By Mark Norman, BBC South East Health Correspondent

We are asking a lot of our hospitals.

Reduce waiting times, hit government targets, recruit and retain the best staff, provide world-class care and do all of that within a budget.

When that budget gets overspent, as it has done in East Kent on a massive scale, they have to make cuts.

But where? Every department will be asked to provide a CIP - A cost improvement programme.

Sounds easy. It's clearly not, especially as they have been asked to make cuts for many months, if not years, already.

East Kent is not alone - but the scale of the challenge at this trust is huge, with no easy way out.

At the meeting, acting chairman of the board of directors Stewart Baird said the trust's priorities were improving waiting times, reducing waiting lists and cutting costs.

Board papers for the meeting stated that there were "early signs of improvement" in reducing the use of agency staff.

"I believe we can do it, I think we've made a very good start during January," Mr Glenn said.

After the meeting he added: "We are working with clinicians and managers to develop savings programmes that will improve our patients' experience as well as reduce our costs by addressing inefficiencies in our systems and improving care and outcomes for patients."

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