AN NHS trust is facing a £33.4 million pound deficit.
Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust, which runs three hospitals in the county, is £6.9m worse off than predicted almost halfway through the 2026/27 financial year.
A report by Katie Osmond, interim chief finance officer, said the trust’s pay bill had risen due to sickness, vacancies and leave cover.
NHS: Worcestershire Royal Hospital (Image: Phil Wilkinson-Jones/LDRS)
She said the amount of temporary staffing needed had not fallen, despite “substantive recruitment”.
A board meeting on Tuesday heard that the benefits of recent recruitment would be felt in the coming months.
The trust also paid out £400,000 in severance payments to staff who agree to leave their jobs voluntarily as part of a mutually agreed resignation scheme, often used when organisations are restructuring or cutting costs.
Ms Osmond said the upwards trajectory of the deficit was of “significant concern”.
“We are currently off-plan and hence the focus on recovery,” she told board members.
“As a result of our off-plan performance the national team have withheld our deficit support funding that was part of our planned position..
“The drivers of that financial position remain consistent to previous months. They are primarily due to underdelivery against our delivery and efficiency programme.
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“We have delivered almost £11m of cost efficiencies year-to-date but that’s about £4m less than we’d planned to, so as a result of that and the overall position, we have instigated a financial recovery plan.”
She said the trust was expecting a reduction in “premium” agency and bank spend as it moves out of a “difficult summer period” and into the autumn and winter.
The report also shows that only 53 percent of invoices were paid on time by Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust in August.
The Better Payment Practice Code measures how promptly NHS organisations pay suppliers, with a target of 95 percent.
