£15m hospital approved despite trust's multi-million pound debts

By Paul Jeeves

HEALTH chiefs have been petitioned to ensure a mounting financial crisis at North Yorkshire’s beleaguered Primary Care Trust (PCT) does not put a 15m landmark hospital development in jeopardy.

The ambitious project will create a new council headquarters as well as a community hospital.

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Plans were approved by the region’s Strategic Health Authority (SHA) yesterday, although concerns had been expressed that the hospital development could fall victim to NHS North Yorkshire and York’s multi-million pound deficit.

The Yorkshire Post revealed on Saturday that the PCT has already accrued a 4m deficit during this financial year, and senior officials have admitted that the situation is expected to worsen significantly.

The chief executive of NHS North Yorkshire and York, Jayne Brown, confirmed that the trust could be facing debts of up to 8m by the end of March.

The Labour MP for Selby, John Grogan, revealed yesterday that he has written to senior officials at both the SHA and the PCT to seek assurances that the financial crisis does not impinge on the hospital development.

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Mr Grogan said: “We all thought that the financial problems had been put behind us in North Yorkshire, but that is obviously not the case.

“It is very worrying to discover the deficits which the PCT is facing, but we cannot allow the hospital development to be delayed because of these financial problems.

“There appears to be no margin for error with the financial situation faced by the PCT, and I have sought assurances that the hospital project will remain on track.”

The new 24-bed hospital will employ 116 staff and have 54 consulting rooms, while the civic centre will house 241 workers spread over two floors.

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After the SHA approved the final business case yesterday, it was confirmed that construction work on the development will begin in the spring.

The managing director of NHS North Yorkshire and York’s community and mental health services, Janet Probert, said: “This is a significant milestone for the Selby community project as it secures NHS funding to build the joint hospital and community centre for the people of Selby.”

The Department of Health’s community hospital fund is financing the bulk of the 15.6m scheme, although NHS North Yorkshire and York is due to provide 890,000 in funding.

It is hoped that health and council services will be streamlined by creating a joint base in Doncaster Road in Selby, on the site of the existing War Memorial Hospital. It will also be a more cost-effective use of public funds as maintenance and day-to-day running costs will be lower compared to the existing civic centre and hospital buildings.

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However, the revelations about the PCT’s mounting deficit sparked concerns that cutbacks would have to be made to healthcare services across the county.

The North Yorkshire PCT was ranked as one of the most overspent health organisations nationally after it inherited the financial deficit during a restructuring of the NHS in 2006.

After the PCT accrued debts of more than 36m, the Department of Health ordered the trust to carry out a widescale review to curb its deficits by the end of the last financial year.

While this was achieved, an unexpected increase in the number of hospital admissions, as well as escalating costs for the treatment of mental health patients in secure units, have been blamed for the subsequent multi-million pound debts.

The impact of pharmacy contracts and the cost of prescription drugs have also compounded the precarious financial situation.

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