Stafford Hospital faces £7m shortfall

Stafford Hospital is facing a cash shortfall of more than £7 million after ending the last financial year almost £5 million in the red, it has been disclosed.

Bosses at the trust are now drawing up plans to tackle the financial crisis by putting in strict controls on spending, but they have pledged there will be no cut in clinical staffing.

It is the latest financial headache for the trust, which last year had to get a cash handout from the Strategic Health Authority to avoid a final year shortfall of almost £9 million.

The latest figures reveal the trust finished the financial year at the end of March £4.75 million in the red, and this will now be a debt against the trust that it will need to repay to the NHS in the future.

The latest financial forecasts predict the trust, which runs both Stafford and Cannock Hospital, will finish the current year £7.6 million in the red. If this happens the trust will have a total debt of more than £12 million.

Julie Bailey, founder of Cure the NHS, said the cash situation at the hospital was "frightening." She said: "They have had additional money put in as well and yet they are still in deficit. People are still complaining to us about their care and yet the trust has said its spent all this money and put improvements in."

Antony Sumara, chief executive said there would be no return to past mistakes of cutting clinical staff. He said: "We are not looking to do that, we have given a commitment to recruit more staff. There is no way I am going to take staff out of the hospital without a clear idea of what that means for patients."

He added: "We still owe the £4.7 million but we have a two-year plan for this year and next year to bring the hospital back into balance."

Mr Sumara said he and other bosses had been focussed on improvements to patient care and safety but he said in future the trust would bring in tighter financial controls. He said a key way of saving money would be "getting it right first time for patients" by reducing the number of delays, cancellations and mistakes in care which can lead to patients staying longer in hospital or having to come back at a later date.

In the past the trust axed a third of its clinical staff to tackle a £10 million deficit under previous chief executive Martin Yeates. The Francis Inquiry revealed the decision had been made without any assessment of the risk to patient safety.