Leeds Hospitals Trust says finances ‘critical’ amid £110m deficit

Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust has told staff that its finances are in a “critical situation” with “immediate action” needed to address a £110m shortfall.

BBC News has obtained a staff email in which senior managers say the trust’s finances are in “serious trouble”.

Eleven Yorkshire hospital trusts have identified they need to save £350m from their combined budgets over the next year, according to public documents.

The government said it was giving the NHS “record funding”.

Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust (LTHT) is one of the largest in the country, spending £1.7 billion a year.

Staff at the children’s hospital trust were emailed this month that senior managers were so worried about their financial position that they feared they would “lose control of their decision-making”.

The email goes on to say that to reduce budgets “vacancies will be maintained for 13 weeks” except for critical positions, with reductions in the use of temporary staff.

“These are people who are often brought in to cover a shortfall in staff, so to remove them would be very dangerous,” said Sarah Dodsworth, regional director of the Royal College of Nursing.

“It would mean that the minimum staffing levels we see now are reduced even further – this will impact on nurses’ ability to provide safe and effective care, could lead to harm to patients.”

In March, the trust’s board was told its energy costs were 174% higher than the previous year, adding to financial pressures.

In response to the leaked email, Simon Worthington, LTHT’s chief financial officer, said: “We have identified the need to further reduce salary expenditure for bank and agency staff as we have seen a significant increase in permanent clinical staff over recent years.

“This week we have focused on how we can do this in an efficient and sustainable way, while keeping high quality patient care at the heart of everything we do.”

He added: “Thanks to the effort and ideas of employees, we have identified a number of ways in which we can do this to help us close the funding gap.”

By reviewing documents produced by the other 10 NHS hospital trusts in West, North and South Yorkshire, BBC News has identified that the hospitals collectively need to save £350m over the next year.

Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust has said it faces “unpleasant options” in its bid to save up to £39m.

Calderdale and Huddersfield NHS Foundation Trust documents said its financial austerity plan required it to “meet national requirements for a reduction in staff numbers”.

Hospital trusts are facing increasing pressures on their budgets, with a growing and aging population presenting increasingly complex health needs.

The Department of Health and Social Care said NHS funding had reached record levels and made a “real difference” to reducing waiting lists.

HM Treasury figures show total government spending on health services in Yorkshire and the Humber has reached £16.5bn in 2023, up from £12bn before the 2019 general election.

Sally Gainsborough, senior policy analyst at the Nuffield Trust, said: “Health spending in England as a whole is being reduced very slightly in real terms due to inflationary pressures.

“Ultimately, hospital budgets are a political choice – this financial year there seems to be a political consensus from both main parties that the NHS is not due significant additional levels of funding.”