Hospital cash crisis sparks service fears (From Gazette & Herald)

Hospital cash crisis sparks service fears

YEARS of underfunding have been blamed for the crisis looming at Scarborough General Hospital, where a multi-million pound deficit is sparking fears of cuts to services.

The accusation followed a packed meeting of the North Yorkshire County Council's health scrutiny committee at the resort's Royal Hotel last Thursday.

Almost 300 members of the public who attended the meeting, alongside the committee, were told that the Strategic Health Authority (SHA), which is responsible for funding hospitals, was seeking repayment of nearly £7 million from the Scarborough and North Yorkshire NHS Trust overspending in the last financial year, plus a further £7 million overspend from previous years.

Speaking to the Gazette & Herald after the meeting, County Coun John Blackie, the committee chairman, said: "Quite clearly there has historically been under-funding of the hospital."

He said people feared there could be reduction or even removal of existing services which would have a huge impact, meaning people would have to travel 40 miles to the nearest hospital at York.

Coun Blackie said: "It was a very good meeting which may prove to be the start of a local campaign by the public to save the services and indeed the hospital which the people of Scarborough and Ryedale value so greatly.

"The hospital is held in high esteem - that was a message which came over very strongly."

Coun Blackie said there was strong criticism of the SHA which had failed to send an officer to the meeting to answer the criticism.

However, he added, the SHA was being asked to attend to send its chief executive and finance officer to a future meeting of the scrutiny committee to put forward explanations for the hospital's financial crisis.

He said: "We are also looking at the funding of NHS trusts countywide," and added that there was a £90 million deficit by trusts in total in the region.

"It seems that the financial problems of the Scarborough trust are not of its own making."

There was one glimmer of hope, he said, in that the SHA says that in "exceptional circumstances" outstanding debts can be waived. "We shall certainly be pursuing that avenue."

Robert Goodwill, MP for Scarborough and Whitby, joined with Leo McGrory, chairman of the patient and public involvement forum - the health service watchdog for the districts - and called for the scrutiny committee to investigate Scarborough Hospital's financial situation.

Mr Goodwill said: "There was not a single negative comment about the hospital but there are worries about its financial situation."

He said that reducing spending by not replacing staff who left to work in other areas would not solve the problem because other trusts nationwide were adopting the same policy so there will be no recruitment in other areas. "It is ironic that so much money has been invested in the NHS by the government yet people are still disenchanted with the health service."

Updated: 15:34 Wednesday, April 12, 2006