Issue - meetings

• Kerry Rogers, Executive Director, will be in attendance to discuss announced job cuts;
• Quality Accounts (report attached).

Rotherham Foundation Trust

Matthew Lowry, Acting Chief Executive, Rotherham Foundation Trust, attended the meeting to discuss the recent press headlines with regard to potential job losses at Rotherham District General Hospital.

The scale of the financial challenge faced by the Foundation Trust was driven by 2 factors; an assumption made nationally that the contracts the Trust was commissioned for would make an efficiency saving each year of 5% and secondly (2) an agreed Strategy with commissioners, particularly with the NHSR and the emerging CCG, that it needed to shift the balance away from the hospital.  A combination of the 2 was creating a sizeable financial challenge for the Trust.

The hospital had to save £50M over 4 years and were nearing the end of the second year; to date, £20M of savings had been made.  Currently plans were being drawn up and as yet no formal announcement had been made with regard to redundancies.  The Trust was working very closely with the staff side and Trades Union and expected to start the formal consultation process with staff on 14^th December, 2012 as to how to try and make savings within the organisation for 2013/14. 

There were a number of areas where the Trust did less work and, therefore, needed to reduce its capacity to reflect that situation as well as commissioners commissioning less work.  It was also important to recognise that where savings were sought, it was based upon very detailed and focussed work within the organisation and balanced between the need to make savings whilst maintaining the quality of service.  Discussions with commissioners were imperative for their help and support to manage transition from the historical model health care and the model service moving forward.

Discussion ensued with the following issues raised:-

-        The efficiency savings of 5% was a national position and would be a challenge.  In terms of the further savings, some were unique to Rotherham.  Rotherham was at the upper end of the reliance on bed care and the town’s historical model of care was admission to hospital.  There was now an opportunity to make the transition with the help of the commissioners

-        It was hoped that the vast majority of the £3-4M services leaving the hospital would transfer into funding for services in the community – negotiations were currently underway.  As a minimum it would be expected to be £1-2M.  The Trust was pressing very hard to invest as much in the community as possible which would enable the pace of change.  There was a need to move services away from the hospital to the most appropriate setting

-        It would be a decision for the local Clinical Commissioning Group

-        Services potentially moving from the hospital included a number of out patient services and tests that could be conducted in GP surgeries or by Community Nursing staff in the patient’s own home

-        There were a number of long term conditions where patients repeatedly went to hospital.  This was an  ...  view the full minutes text for item 43