Fresh fears for future of Stroud Maternity Unit after NHS Trust’s financial fiasco

At the end of last month it was announced Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust had been placed in Special Measures after a massive financial blunder.

The Trust – which runs Stroud Maternity Unit – shocked the county when it recorded an £11million deficit after having been predicted a £5million surplus.

Since announcing the funding black hole, the Trust’s finance director has quit and a number of measures have been enforced in an effort to balance the books.

Sarah Lunnon, Green county councillor for Stroud Central, told the SNJ: “I think this financial meltdown poses a really serious threat to the future of Stroud maternity Unit.

“We might be back in exactly the same situation we were 10 years ago.

“Unfortunately though, this time around the financial situation the trust is in is even worse – so we might have an even harder fight on our hands.

“The new chief executive of the trust has some really difficult financial decisions to make. It has an £11 million shortfall to make up.

“There is absolutely no doubt this is going to have serious consequences for Gloucestershire - and particularly for Stroud.

“They are never going to close Gloucestershire Royal or Cheltenham General – so Stroud Maternity will be the one in the firing line.

“Compared to the major hospitals it services a relatively small number of women a year. We always knew the battle wasn’t over and now unfortunately I think it’s ripe to be closed.

“To have to fight tooth and nail to keep it open again, just as we did a decade ago, will be devastating for our community. I think our much loved Maternity Unit is going to need all the friends it's got.

“So I am calling on Trust's new chief executive Deborah Lee, to make a statement that the Stroud District Maternity Unit will be kept open and supported into the foreseeable future.”

Cllr Lunnon added that the financial troubles could also trickle down to effect funding for Stroud’s Minor Injuries and Illness Unit.

Meanwhile, councillors at Stroud District Council are also scrambling to seek assurances over the unit’s future.

Cllr Doina Cornell (Labour) and cllr John Marjoram (Green) have tabled a motion at Thursday’s full council debate highlighting serious concerns over the town’s maternity services.

If the motion is passed, a delegation of group leaders from SDC will look to meet with senior members of the trusts and the Clinical Commissioning Group “to seek guarantees about the future of the hospital and maternity unit”.

Cllr Cornell said: “At the moment there is so much uncertainty over the future of our NHS services.

“On top of the Gloucestershire Trust’s own financial problems we have the draft Sustainability and Transformation Plans coming at the end of the month.

“They are going to be forced to make savings. We know big changes are going to be coming our way but we just don’t know what they will be.

“We were all behind the campaign to save the maternity unit back in 2006. We really worried about its future.

“Unfortunately it is the low hanging fruit. I fear NHS bosses will look at the unit as a sheet of figures rather than at the huge benefit it brings to the community in Stroud.”

Debbie Hicks, Labour County Council candidate for Stroud Central added: “With the recent announcement that Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS trust  has an ‘unexpected’ deficit of £11.1 million our local hospital and beloved Maternity Unit will be next if we don’t fight with all our might.”

Stroud Maternity is a small midwife-led unit which manages approximately 300 births per year.

The unit in Trinity Road was saved from closure in 2006 after a phenomenal campaign from the community.

At the time the Trust was facing pressures to balance the books and put forward a suggestion to axe the service, only to later withdraw the idea due to huge public pressure.

A spokesperson has since told the SNJ: “There are no current proposals or plans affecting Stroud Maternity Unit.

“We firmly believe excellent quality of care and good financial health go hand in hand and are determined that as a Trust we will meet the challenges ahead in order to continue to provide high quality, sustainable services for our patients.”

Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust is one of three trusts to have been put into financial special measures by NHS Improvement.

Last month the trust was forced to take out a £20 million loan after a planned £5.3 million surplus for the end of this financial year was revised to a deficit of £11.1 million.

As part of financial special measures, the trust agrees a recovery plan with NHS Improvement.

Jim Mackey, chief executive of NHS Improvement, said the trust’s financial performance had been not good enough and targeted help was being provided.

He said Gloucestershire NHS Trust going into Financial Special Measures had caused “significant concern”.

“NHS providers all over the country have responded well to the financial challenge, are working flat out to meet growing demand, and continue to provide high quality care in more efficient ways,” he said.

“However, the three providers going into Financial Special Measures are causing significant concern. They’ve agreed savings targets locally but are a long way from meeting them.

“We also need to be able to rely upon good financial governance in every provider, so the problems unearthed at Gloucestershire are a real concern.

“The financial performance of these three trusts has simply not been good enough and so we’re sending in some targeted support to identify what the problem is, and help them fix it.”

The Trust’s finance director, Helen Simpson, has quit in the wake of the shock revelation.

An interim director of finance has been appointed while a review of spending priorities is carried out. Two non-executive directors with financial skills are also being recruited.

Running parallel to these actions is an independent review which has been jointly commissioned by the trust board and NHS Improvement to find out how the situation arose, how it went unnoticed for so long and who was involved.

This investigation will start next month and end in January.

Deborah Lee, former nurse and new chief executive of Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, only took up her post just three months ago.

She said: “The board fully recognises the scale of the financial challenges facing the trust and the seriousness of the concerns surrounding the historical financial governance arrangements.

“The whole board is committed to working constructively with NHS Improvement to ensure the trust gets back on to a firm financial footing as soon as possible.

“We firmly believe that excellent quality of care and good financial health go hand in hand and this will form a key plank of our recovery plan, I am already heartened by the extent to which our staff have engaged with and begun to rise to this challenge.”