Doubts over hospital's cash recovery

HOSPITAL bosses have said they have "serious doubts" that the local NHS Trust will be able to break even this year.

As the Observer recently revealed the East Sussex Hospitals NHS Trust, which runs the Conquest in Hastings and Eastbourne DGH, has overspent by more than 3.5 million since April and is introducing a raft of drastic measures to try to save money.

The Trust's Board members which runs both the DGH and the Conquest in Hastings, met to discuss its annual results and plan for the coming year.

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Ian Hunt, non-executive director, said: "I have serious doubts we will be able to break even by the end of this year.

"My personal hope is we will be able to break even by next year.

"In the past three or four months some very rigorous and tough measures have been introduced but the Trust is like a super-tanker and it is quite slow to turn."

The annual report shows that from March 2004 to 2005 the total number of patients waiting for treatment at both hospitals has been cut from 6,792 to 5,924, and 90 per cent of patients are operated on within six months.

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But the number of outpatients waiting more than 13 weeks has rocketed from 463 to 750.

Both the Conquest and DGH are also falling short of A&E targets.

From March 2004 to March 2005 a total of 95.3 per cent of patients were seen within four hours of arriving at both emergency departments, but the NHS target is 98 per cent.

Bed blocking is still a huge problem at the Conquest and on average nearly 80 beds are being used by patients who are unable to be discharged from the hospital.

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In the Trust's annual report chairman John Lewis said: "Over the past three years, a significant number of our beds have been occupied by people who no longer need hospital care.

"This makes it difficult to admit patients who require surgery or emergency care.

"For the past three years, on average more than 28,000 bed days have been lost each year due to delayed transfers of care, that is 77 beds or nearly four wards.

"This has put a strain on our staff and our finances and most importantly on our ability to provide the quality of care we want to give our patients."