Despite mounting debts of more than £23 million, the IW NHS Trust has spent millions on external advisers over the last three years.
One finance consultant was paid more than £14,000 by the trust for just four weeks’ work.
FOI revelations
A Freedom of Information (FOI) request revealed the amount spent on external advisors has sky-rocketed — rising from £611,000 per year in 2016/17, to more than £1.7 million in the first eight-months of the current financial year.
Of that, £1.1 million was spent on external management consultants.
The number of external advisers has tripled from 15 in 2016, to 42 in 2018.
IW NHS Trust: Devoting extra resources to tackling problems
The trust said the increasing spend on consultants was because the organisation was devoting extra resources to tackling the problems highlighted by recent inspections.
It said it was not unusual to work with consultants across a range of specialist areas to provide expertise while recruitment at the trust continued to be a challenge.
A spokesperson added some of the costs had been met by other parts of the NHS and national schemes.
Critchley: Services cut whilst £1m spent on board
However, Island Labour chair, Julian Critchley, highlighted, in the last three years, the trust had spent more than £1 million on advisers for its board alone.
He said:
“Management consultants and advisers, who wouldn’t know one end of a stethoscope from another, are walking away with millions of pounds while Islanders have to watch their much-needed hospital services being cut.”
£14k for four weeks
Director of finance, Darren Cattell, worked as an interim consultant at the trust for around four weeks before beginning a permanent role and was paid £14,300 during that time.
Three weeks ago, NHS Improvement (NHSI) placed the trust in special measures due to an increased deficit of £13 million.
The total deficit for the trust stands at more than £23 million.
No plan for how to address debt
The trust was not able to explain to inspectors the deterioration or how the debt would be addressed.
Health bosses will now receive support from the NHS which will include the appointment of a financial improvement director and a review of the trust’s cost improvement programme.
IW NHS: Not been able to recruit substantively
A trust spokesperson said:
“We have needed to bring in additional specialist expertise and, where necessary, hire interim staff when we have not been able to recruit substantively.
“Since NHS Improvement assessed the IW NHS Trust as requiring support to address concerns in a number of areas, we have been working closely with our regulator to further improve the quality of care we deliver to our patients.
“We welcome the support and the expertise from external advisers which is helping us to make improvements which are both sustainable and within our financial means.”
He added:
“Recruitment continues to be a challenge for us and the quality and safety of our services must come before all else.
“To ensure continuity of service some posts are being filled by external consultancy on a temporary, interim basis, until a more permanent solution is found.
“When we build new services and bring in better systems, we will often need additional but interim staff to help us for specific projects, or with specific expertise such as in building design, construction, planning and IT.”
This article is from the BBC’s LDRS (Local Democracy Reporter Service) scheme, which OnTheWight is taking part in. Some alterations and additions may be been made by OnTheWight. Ed Image: © Used with the kind permission of Auntie P
