Hospital needs to make £38 million in savings
BASSETLAW Hospital chiefs have announced they need to save a massive £38million within the next three years – but they insist there will be no cuts to services.
The savings – which amount to 12 per cent of the total income – are required as the trust is readying itself for funding cuts from central government in the coming years.
As part of the trust's 'transformation' project chiefs have come up with 27 money saving measures ranging from charging more rent for on-site housing to charging more for hospital nurseries.
Bosses at Bassetlaw Hospital are also planning changes to emergency surgery at Bassetlaw Hospital and rehabilitation services at Doncaster.
But Ian Greenwood, director of strategic and service development, insisted that these planned changes have nothing to do with saving money.
"It's very much about improving the quality of service," he said. "This is not about cutting costs, this is about making sure we can provide safe, quality services into the future."
"We are already competing against other hospitals to attract staff and for other scarce resources."
"We want to carry on providing as many services as possible at as many of our hospitals as possible."
Director of performance Lynne Rothwell said every single department across both hospitals will come under review in a bid to save the money. She added that every member of staff will also be affected by the changes.
"Staff will be affected, maybe not in the next few months but certainly over the next two or three years," she said. "This is all about improving the quality of care long-term, not just about cutting costs."
A presentation to staff on Quality and Transformation outlined that the trust has 'no choice' in trying to save the cash.
The plans aim to save 12 per cent of the trust's total income in the next three years, and the trust is also readying itself for even higher savings in 2011/12 and beyond.
But some residents and members of staff have contacted the Guardian to say they are worried about the changes that have already been made.
One resident, who requested anonymity, spoke for many when she said: "Nurses are leaving and not being replaced. My mother spent nearly two weeks at Bassetlaw Hospital. During her stay she was on three wards. Every ward was running short staffed. This, to me, is not acceptable."
Mr Greenwood said staff sickness levels had gone up recently because of swine flu, and that this had accounted for the recent lower staffing levels, but said the trust is looking at ways to reduce this.
A spokesman for the trust said Bassetlaw Hospital is also working to reduce overall bed numbers by 'new ways of working,' adding that many patients requiring surgery now come into hospital as a daycase and therefore do not need an overnight stay.
"Improvements in clinical care have resulted in many patients not staying in hospital as long as they once did," she said. "This does not mean that we are reducing services at the hospital."
"These changes not only mean that we need less beds, but also less staff. Therefore, we do not need to fill some staff vacancies."
She added that the trust is trying to set up a new medical assessment unit that is intended to achieve a faster diagnosis for emergency admissions. "Such a unit requires highly-skilled nurse practitioners and so, in this respect, we are actively trying to recruit," she added.
Bassetlaw Hospital manager Mary Mitchell said: "As well as trying to recruit the new nurse practitioners, we are also trying to recruit some general nursing vacancies, but there does appear to be a shortage of applicants in our area."
"We are actively trying to recruit student nurses from the Bassetlaw area, as this might help us in the longer term to fill our posts."
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And here's the 27 ways the trust plans to clawback the cash:-
Reduce sickness levels- this involved controlling bank and external agency spend
Reduce costs of recruitment advertising
Reviewing day nurseries and putting up the rates
Introduction of Park & Ride scheme and new car park charges DRI
Increasing the rent for on site accommodation.
Improve efficiency in Estates.
Review of telecommunications- Bassetlaw Hospital has had a new switchboard and Doncaster needs a new one. This will be reviewed.
Review the operation of concessions, possibly increase the rent for hospital shops.
Utilisation of space and space planning.
Review of cleaning services. At the moments cleaning across the trust is organised in three models the trust will review this and see what works best.
Review of linen and laundry services.
Reduce the cost of procurement.
Reduce theatre cancellations.
Establish the level of activity of non face-to-face consultations.
Reassign IT training costs to individual projects.
Explore VAT reduction on agency staff.
Explore the possibility of prompt payment discounts.
Ensure all admissions, transfers and discharges are recorded on PAS so the activity is appropriately charged and paid for.
Pathology managed service contracts.
Reduce inpatients' length of stay, inpatients can be admitted on Friday and stuck in hospital over the weekend so can be assessed more quickly and start treatment more quickly.
Review first and follow-up outpatient appointments, and DNAs.
Improve endoscopy patient pathways; consider direct GP access refer straight to endoscopy not to a consultant and then to endoscopy back up.
Review admin across all sites and functions.
Ensure appropriate skill mix on wards and departments specific to the needs of the patient speciality group.
Clinical medical productivity.
Roll out the Productive Ward project.
Ambitions for the Future - detail to be confirmed.
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Wednesday 08 February 2012
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