Health trust improves finances

Bosses at Wye Valley NHS have reported their best financial performance for the last seven years.

The health trust achieved its deficit target of £17.2m during the last financial year.

They spent £250.3m while its income for the year was £231.6m resulting in a deficit of £18.7m (adjusted to £17.2m).

The trust borrowed some £45.7m, £34.7m of which was related to revenue.

Their total level of borrowing, excluding the PFI and finance lease liabilities, totalled £193.2m. The trust spent £15.3m on capital projects, £6.3m on IT, £2.7m estates, £3.3m on radiology and £2.3m on other equipment.

Howard Oddy, director of finance and information, said: “In late March as the pandemic struck there were some immediate changes to the finance regime which will impact on our position this year and presumably what we report on next year.

“With immediate effect centrally set block contracts were put in place initially until the end of July then till the end October we think these could well be extended until the end of March 2021.

“NHS improvements are actually funding trusts at the moment to make sure they deliver a break even position so that the whole deficit scenario doesn’t get in the way of providing the care that’s required during the pandemic.

“We are awaiting further guidance on what happens next.

“The huge level of debt was in terms of the loans this trust has had to take out in order to remain a going concern.

“It is very good news to hear the NHS has decided to abolish the use of loans and replaced it with something called public dividend capital. This will result in a reduction in interest payments and should leave the trust’s balance sheet looking much more healthy.”

Chairman Russell Hardy said: “It’s worth emphasising that the £17.2m deficit that we achieved last year is the best performance the trust has achieved in about the last seven years. It’s quite an extraordinary performance.”