Do you think and act like you’re spending your own money here at CHFT in your day-to-day role? If you buy goods and services, do you do the right thing every time? The financial position in the first months of this year has been especially challenging and needs to improve significantly. We've put some actions and remedies in place, and we're asking colleagues to support us too by Doing Their Bit.
Director of Finance Gary Boothby told CHFT Weekly:
"It's no exaggeration to say our financial performance needs to improve significantly for us to achieve our planned deficit (overspend) of £16m by the year end, and the finance risk on our corporate risk register is at the highest level it can be at. This is an unprecedented situation at CHFT.
"Our Trust is reporting a deficit at the planned level (which means we are overspent, though at the agreed levels), but this has had to be supported by a number of one off benefits. We've released all the contingency funds we can, though we're still short and don't have a full programme of CIP schemes in place to help us deliver our £20m of savings.
"The fragile financial situation has been partly driven by additional temporary pressures as we have worked through EPR implementation. BUT, the underlying divisional financial position is also worse than planned, with lower activity levels not matched by reduced spend.
"If this situation continues we will be unable to sustain the planned financial position which may lead to action by our regulator NHS Improvement, who would be likely to impose and enforce changes and financial control measures.
Gary added how colleagues can support us with our Do your bit campaign
"To tackle the financial situation ourselves, we will all need to work together and we are calling on all colleagues to Do Their Bit.
What does this mean?
It will mean different things for different people.
For all colleagues day-to-day it's about thinking about the impact of what they're doing. A simple example is making sure colleagues use the right waste bag for disposal. It may seem a small thing but waste companies can be fined up to £10,000 if waste is not disposed of correctly and they would be within their rights to pass those costs on to us. It's also a shame for colleagues making the effort to use the right bins.
For budget holders, tighter controls will bring in some additional authorisation requirements and additional scrutiny in the following areas:
- Establishment review
- All ESR changes to be agreed by Vacancy Control panel
- E-rostering – Additional scrutiny regarding hours owed
- Tightened non-pay controls
- Adherence to purchase order rules
What's going to happen?
More information and guidance will follow where systems and processes are changing, explaining what it means for colleagues. Our current guidance can be found on the Finance section of the Intranet, and we're also offering training for budget holders too.
If you’re already involved in a Cost Improvement Programme your contribution and commitment to this becomes more important than ever in ensuring that we make the savings that we’ve already identified.
Remember: even if you’re not a budget holder you can Do your bit by thinking about what we spend every day and identify areas where you think we can make savings no matter how big or small.
As an illustration, if every colleague could save CHFT £1 per day, we would save an amazing £2 million per year. Email your ideas to DoYourBit@cht.nhs.uk