Dudley NHS Trust reveals it spends £1m a day
The cash-strapped NHS trust that runs Russells Hall Hospital has revealed it currently spends £1 million every day.
Health chiefs revealed the scale of NHS spending in Dudley as the hospital is gearing up for a challenging financial year.
Dudley NHS Trust is also dealing with a recruitment shortage and a below-par government inspection.
Tom Jackson, director of finances at the Dudley NHS Trust, said: “As a trust we spend about £1 million every day.
“A large amount of that money goes on staff. We are the largest employer in the borough.
“We have got a clear challenge this year going forward.
“ It is difficult to escape the fact that there are funding challenges in the NHS.
“Funding is so tight in the NHS at the moment.”
Mr Jackson made the revelation to a Dudley Council health scrutiny committee, which quizzed hospital bosses over the recent Care Quality Commission inspection.
The trust was giving a rating of ‘requires improvement’ after a visit from inspectors in July.
It was the same rating given to the trust two years earlier.
The latest results prompted an extraordinary meeting with Dudley Council.
Hospital chiefs were invited to speak at one of the council’s health scrutiny meetings over standards of care.
One concern raised by the CQC report was the safety of urgent and emergency care, such as Russells Halls’ A&E department.
But councillors drew up a strategy, in partnership with the trust, to reduce the number of patients using A&E.
Councillor Hilary Bills, a committee member, said: “We want to educate the public as to when they should use the doctors, when should they use a walk-in clinic, when should they go to a chemist, when should they go to A&E.
“We basically want to stop people who just need a plaster on their finger going to the emergency department.”
