OnTheWight has learnt that the Isle of Wight NHS Trust and Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) have called in a specialist to help them out of the serious situation they’re currently in.
A major part of their role is to build a Financial Recovery Plan.
The external person, labelled a Turnaround Director, will carry out a ‘system wide’ review, covering the financial and operational side both the Trust and CCG.
It’s not thought there will be an immediate impact on the day-to-day operation of health services on the Isle of Wight.
Deficit
Delving into the current financial position of the Isle of Wight NHS Trust and CCG, OnTheWight learnt that the Trust overspent by £8m in 2015/16 and is forecasting a deficit of £9m in 2016/17. OnTheWight was told the CCG for 2016/17 is forecasting breakeven, but is required to make a 1% surplus.
In 2015/16 the CCG had a £4.5m surplus – in part this is an arrangement with NHS England which enables the Island to receive an additional £1m in 2016/17 to help balance the books.
It’s happened quickly
The appointment has happened in haste, as can be demonstrated by the role first being an interim one “to get things rolling”, with the appointment of the full time post to follow.
The role is a powerful one – They can dictate what will happen – even remove some of the local decision-making, in their attempt to turn around the deficit/break even, to a more sustainable position.
Currently uncertain how long the Turnaround Director will be in place, the initial work is scheduled to take three months.
Frequent financial reporting
It’s expected the CCG will have monthly financial progress meetings with the NHS England Wessex Area Team and quarterly financial progress meetings with NHS South Regional Team.
OnTheWight asked if the arrival of the specialist has been instigated by NHS Improvement (the new government body that oversees quality as of 1 April 2016), and being told it was after a four way discussion (CCG, NHS Improvement, NHS England and the Trust) that “they agreed it was the right way forward.”
Staffing cited as an issue
During our discussion, the IW NHS Trust spokesperson was keen to underline that staffing had been a major issue on the Isle of Wight – without being able to attract and retain full time, salaried staff, locum (freelance) medical staff have had to be used. They say this neither builds a reliable service, as the locum doesn’t have a long-term interest in the service improving, and it is more expensive.
It was summarised with, “The Island would argue it knows what the problems are – and some of those are nationally-made problems, like lack of trained staff.”
“Vitally important”
We asked the spokesperson if there was anything they’d like to add. They said:
“It’s vitally important that people participate in the ‘Caring for our Island: Time to act’ engagement – and that survey is open until the 27th May.
“It’s vitally important for the longer term that people tell us what they think.”
Isle of Wight NHS Trust
The IW NHS Trust is the only integrated NHS service provider in England of acute hospital, mental health, learning disability, ambulance and community services. It was hailed a ‘health hub pioneer’ earlier this year and featured in national press and on TV.
Health services on the Island were first brought together in October 2006 under the umbrella of the Isle of Wight NHS PCT. The first year of operation for the new Isle of Wight NHS Trust was in 2012/13.
Foundation Trust programme scrapped
In March 2016 the Isle of Wight NHS Trust revealed they were abandoning their programme to become a Foundation Trust.
At the time, Karen Baker, Chief Executive, said:
“Whilst the Trust Board has taken the decision to close our Foundation Trust programme, it is important to stress that we will continue to make our own decisions under our plans to work more closely with other organisations. Much has changed on the political and healthcare landscape since we first began our Foundation Trust journey.
“We have been given a very big opportunity to improve the Island’s health and social care services with our partners through the My Life a Full Life programme and it’s really important that we continue to keep our focus clearly on this important priority.”
Article edit 10.02am
Overspend amended and additional figures on the CCG surplus added.
Image: reynermedia under CC BY 2.0
