We are now into the second half of the financial year in what I have already said is the toughest I have ever known. 

For this year we are forecasting a £22m trading deficit (£26m including restructuring costs) - it is really important that we do as much as we possibly can to get this figure back down to at least our planned figure of £20m and to stop it going any higher.

So I am asking all the divisions to get behind several key areas of work. These include an extra push on increasing elective activity, reducing agency spend through absence management policies and reviewing restructuring costs.

We are, however, already making good headway into finding savings for 2016/17. And on this I have good news and a reason to personally thank everyone.

So far, we have already identified £13.5m savings. This is a better position than we have been in before. The challenge though is to reach £17m plus. So, still work to do, but a really excellent start to next year and I thank everyone for their endeavours and support. It's not easy working in this climate but it does seem CHFT colleagues are working hard to turn this around as far as is possible. It is a team effort, and it is good to see we are producing some positive results through changing the way we work.

So, I end this half-yearly brief update with a simple, non-financial note.

Simply a very very big thankyou…. Oh,  and keep up the hard work!

Keith Griffiths

Finance Director