Local NHS Faces Crisis Cuts, Says Trust Chief

3.09.09pm UTC (GMT +0000) Thu 31st Mar 2005

The chief of Southampton's biggest health trust has warned of the need for "radical change" or a "reduction in the level of services offered to patients" if he is to meet the Government's financial targets.

In a letter to the Hampshire and Isle of Wight Strategic Health Authority which has been passed to Hampshire MEP and Eastleigh parliamentary candidate Chris Huhne, Chief Executive Mark Hackett warns that sharp cuts in local health services are on the way unless the Government gives Hampshire more funding.

Mr Hackett's letter to Hampshire's top health boss Gareth Cruddace says: "Whilst we are already taking significant action to reduce costs, the position will become more acute in 2005/2006 due to the requirement to repay the previous years deficit and this requirement will certainly prevent this Trust from achieving its statutory duty to break even over the five year period, unless some external funding support or external brokerage is secured".

"In our Board's view, major change is required across the whole local health economy and this Trust will require help dealing with the historic deficit. This concern is reinforced by the recent KPMG report on the Trust's recovery plan. We understand that this view is increasingly being formed by the Trust's external auditors.

"The financial position of the Trust and its partners is currently weak and this cannot be strengthened without major, rapid reconfiguration of clinical and non-clinical services across the locality. Existing management arrangements may require change to support these changes in the longer term".

Mr Huhne said that the letter confirmed that the local health trusts, which serve the whole of southern Hampshire, are facing an unprecedented funding crisis as the costs imposed on them by the Government have outstripped the extra funding.

"Hampshire is getting about a fifth less per head than health authorities in the north of the country, and the Government simply has to recognise that this is not enough for local needs. It has mandated sharp increases in costs, like the generous new contract for junior doctors, without the money to pay for them" said Mr Huhne.

Mr Huhne said that his information was that the crisis was not confined to the Southampton University Hospitals NHS trust, the biggest in the area. The various units in Hampshire and Isle of Wight strategic health authority - the umbrella body for the local NHS - were together running a deficit of more than £50 million on a £1.8 billion total budget just one month before the end of the financial year, he said.

"What is particularly alarming is that this financial squeeze on local services is coming despite growing evidence that patient care is not as good as it should be" said Mr Huhne. Mr Huhne said that, if elected, he wanted to work with Hampshire MPs of all parties to get a square deal for the area and re-examine the basis of NHS central funding allocations.

As evidence of below average or deteriorating standards in the local NHS, Mr Huhne cited the above average waiting times when people attend accident and emergency at the Southampton General, the closure of wards with nurses told to stay at home, the closure of the Mount Hospital in Bishopstoke despite promises of alternative local facilities first, a doubling in spending on temporary "agency" nurses at Southampton, and the fall in the number of hospital beds locally compared with 1997 when the Government came to power.

"Mr Hackett's letter confirms that Hampshire's NHS is in crisis" said Mr Huhne. "We need a major debate on this ahead of the general election, and not wale up with a healthcare hangover after the voting".