Dudley's Russells Hall Hospital set to miss out on £250k over waiting time failures
A hospital is set to lose out on more than £250,000 of funding because it is missing NHS waiting time targets.
Health chiefs at Russells Hall in Dudley have admitted it 'seems likely' they will not receive as much cash from the Government as hoped due to its performance on waiting times.
The number of patients being seen within four hours plummeted to 82 per cent in July from 90 per cent a month earlier. The nationwide NHS target is 95 per cent.
Efforts to get patients treated on time were hampered by an extra 100 ambulances arriving at the hospital during July, bosses said.
Hospitals are awarded money from the Sustainability and Transformation Fund based on their success hitting performance and financial targets.
A report to board members at the Dudley Group NHS Trust, which runs Russells Hall, said: "There is a significant risk regarding the performance against the four-hour target and it seems likely that the trust will lose 15 per cent (£0.257m). Day case and A&E attendance remain above plan."
Diane Wake, chief executive of the trust, said: "The trust receives Sustainability and Transformation Fund money for hitting financial targets and for achieving the four-hour emergency department standard.
"For the financial year 2017/18 the trust has the opportunity to earn £8.574m from STF. If we don’t achieve the four hour-target in quarter two (July to September 2017), we will not receive £257,000 of the available STF funds for 2017/18."
Russells Hall has struggled to cope with the number of patients attending A&E over the last year.
Bosses were forced to issue a plea during the winter for people only to attend if they needed emergency treatment.
Waiting times had shown signs of improvement over the last few months but slipped back again during July.
Earlier this year. Dr Paul Harrison, who was acting chief executive at the time, revealed the A&E was dealing with ‘more patients than ever’.
