Eighth NHS trust in region faces deficit as demand from patients soars

York Teaching Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, which manages 10 hospitals including Scarborough and Bridlington and community services for 800,000 people, is predicting it will be in the red at the end of March. Latest figures for the 10 months to January show it is £2.8 million in deficit - more than £6m behind target.

The trust - alongside many others in the country - has been hit by soaring demand from sick elderly patients for emergency care.Last month it became one of a number to declare a major incident at Scarborough Hospital.

It will join other trusts serving the region facing a deficit in 2014-15 including Leeds, Northern Lincolnshire and Goole, Mid Yorkshire, South Tees, Barnsley, Calderdale and Huddersfield, and Humber.

The position at the trust comes despite predictions it will make efficiency savings of nearly £24m.

Its financial director Andrew Bertram said: “Alongside most NHS trusts we are projecting a small underlying deficit. This is disappointing as we have a strong track record of delivering our efficiency plans, however five years of demanding efficiency targets coupled with increasing costs, for example for agency and locum staff, has made the delivery of these plans all the more challenging.”

In a report to a trust board meeting tomorrow, chairman Alan Rose said the deficit “should be manageably small” but the emerging plan for 2015-16 was “too high to be acceptable”.