26.10.12
Circle reveals £4.1m losses at Hinchingbrooke
Hinchingbrooke losses are almost double those forecast in February, the hospital trust has revealed.
Circle Health took over as the first private company to run an NHS hospital in February.
The company originally predicted losses of £2.2m, but new statistics show it lost £4.1m in the first six months. At the time of the takeover, the hospital had debts of nearly £40m.
Circle suggested a contributing factor was spending on external locum consultants, due to the slower than expected arrival of ten new consultants.
Since the takeover, 46 nursing posts have been cut at Hinchingbrooke.
Steve Melton, head of mobilisation for Circle, said: “We've made great progress in the quality of care, but the financial transformation is a little bit behind the high ambitions we set at the beginning of the year.
“That will probably mean at the end of the year we will put in money to balance the overall income and expenditure statement for the hospital. We're content to invest in the very short term this year to bring the trust into balance by the end of the year and take it into sustainable surplus.”
But Karen Webb, regional director for the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) union, said: “The RCN doesn't see how [quality care] can be achieved by removing nurses from the system.
“There does seem to be a clear vision, but there does seem to be a rub between the funding coming through from the NHS and Circle's finances and that should be concerning wherever health care is predicated on funding.”
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