Job freeze announced at Cornwall hospitals amid £3.5m deficit
The Royal Cornwall Hospitals Trust (RCHT) has announced a recruitment freeze as it faces a £3.5m budget deficit.
It will affect Royal Cornwall Hospital at Treliske, near Truro, St Michael’s Hospital in Hayle, and West Cornwall Hospital in Penzance.
A spokesperson for the trust said: “As we take steps to ensure we live within the funding available to us, we have introduced a temporary pause on new recruitment for the next three months.
"There will be exceptions, as safe care and continuing the progress we are making in reducing waiting times will always remain our priority.
“Staffing accounts for around 60 per cent of our expenditure and the recruitment pause is one of many financial recovery actions, as we explore all opportunities to deliver services more efficiently.”
The trust currently employs about 6,700 staff.
It has a total budget of approximately £580 million for the provision of services at the three main sites with approximately 750 inpatient beds.
A financial report presented to the RCHT board meeting showed that the overall financial position in July saw a total expenditure of £225.9m against a total income of £221.8m alongside a £0.6m budget, leaving a £3.5m deficit.
It revealed that as well as pay expenditure being £3.44m above plan, non-pay expenditure is £2.67m above what was budgeted.
Cumulatively, agency expenditure is £5.96m against a £5.88m plan, while capital spend is £2.41m behind plan.
The report adds: “The break-even financial plan is considered as high risk with a significant emphasis on delivering [RCHT’s] £32.5m Cost Improvement Plan (CIP).
"At the end of July, there was an overspend against financial plan of £3.48m. The key components driving the overspend is a shortfall in the delivery of CIP, manifesting in our pay expenditure run rate being too high and the cost of industrial action.
“Despite submitting a break-even plan, if the trust reports a material variance to this in year, there is a risk of intervention and regulatory action from both the Integrated Care Board and NHS England.
"The trust continues to provide a full financial forecast as part of the close-down process and will now be reviewing with care groups on actions to reduce the forecasted position.”