Demand for hospital services led to temporary winter beds still being used this spring

The continued use of “escalation capacity” - opened to meet demand during the busy winter period - was one of the reasons University Hospitals of North Midlands (UHNM) NHS Trust is now facing a financial deficit of £3.8 million according to latest figures.

The trust, which runs Stafford’s County Hospital and Royal Stoke University Hospital, has also incurred costs from the junior doctors’ strikes and underperformed against its in-year cost improvement programme (CIP) target, a report to the latest board meeting said.

The report added: “The trust has incurred £1.5m of costs relating to winter escalation capacity remaining open in April and May.”

Mark Oldham, the trust’s chief finance officer, said: “Winter escalation wards is a key driver, not being able to close them. Another key consideration is cost of cover for the strikes – £1.2m.”

Fellow board member Leigh Griffin asked: “Do we assume the escalation beds are going to be open all year? Have you funded the cost of that into projections?”

Mr Oldham responded: “I think it is important to remember we do have funding for this escalation for winter. The risk we have is between now and October.

“The plan at the moment is there is potential to close some of the escalation capacity in August. But it is difficult to give an assurance it is going to happen.”

May also saw a 12 per cent rise in A&E attendances for UHNM, from 13,024 to 14,525, the board heard on Wednesday. And 12-hour trolley waits surged from 286 in April to 665 in May.

Deputy chief operating officer Oliver White said: “It’s quite difficult to quantify the exact impact of bank holidays – it’s fair to say the same for industrial action. While that’s not the position we want to be in, it has been steadily improving since December.”