How The Western Trust Aims To Save £12.5M

THE Western Trust proposal to reduce £12.5m from its budget before the end of next March covers a wide range of services.

- Ciaran O’Neill

The Trust has described some of the cutbacks as ‘low impact’ while others are described as ‘major and or controversial’.

The proposals described as ‘major and or controversial’ are:

- Reduction in high cost and non-NHS locums, nursing agency and agency Social work staff – total savings £1.630m. The Trust says that it uses a considerable number of locum medical staff, agency nurses, social workers and allied health professionals, primarily in their acute hospitals, but also in their community services, due to the difficultly in permanently recruiting medical, nursing and other staff. The cutback proposal places particular emphasis on reducing or removing the reliance on staff employed through noncontracted agencies that have significantly higher premiums or rates. The Trust says that this will result in closure of approximately 30 beds/care spaces across medical and care of the elderly wards. There will be an increase in waiting times for routine care within hospitals.

- The Trust will temporarily reduce routine elective activity and consolidate daycase elective surgery - total savings £1.780m Action: Routine elective (non-emergency) surgery across the Trust will be reduced by 50 per cent for daycase and be downturned for routine inpatients in Altnagelvin and the South West Acute Hospital (SWAH) in Enniskillen, resulting in bed closures associated with elective care. The Trust says that it will continue to prioritise the highest risk patients awaiting surgery.

The Trust will introduce a cap on locum payment rates – total savings £700,000. The Trust says it will aim to reduce the money paid to high cost locums in key specialties.