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Surpluses versus Services South London & Maudsley NHS Trust
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by Art de Rivers | March 20, 2009 at 05:12 pm
355 views | 3 Recommendations | 2 comments
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The financial surpluses versus patient services NHS model ?
The Public in the UK just might be getting the signal now via the Mid Staffordshire Foundation Trust "400 dead patients" case, and the Birmingham Children's Hospital (70 children turned away a month) that all is not well with the financial and accountability mechanisms operating the new NHS Foundation Trusts - it appears from many sources despite Trust denials and Govt's diversionary explanations and fairly useless Trust Governors and Non-execs that :
The inquiries into Mid Staffordshire and Birmingham children's hospital foundation trusts have raised concern that their semi-autonomous status has led to financial targets being prioritised over patient care and safety.
A little known family online-newspaper in South London has been following the events that led to the closure of a "world class" mental health emergency clinic by the South London and Maudlsey Mental Health Foundation Trust
On Jan 2009 it stated :
People who use the mental health services provided by the South London and Maudsley NHS trust (SLaM) have delivered the embarrassing blow via the Healthcare Commission – in the same year the Trust controversially shut the world-class emergency clinic at the Maudsley Hospital.
Further down the article came :
The commission’s 2008 patient survey shows SLaM is performing worse than other trusts in five of 11 key areas – including support in the community and crisis care.
It outlined these :
The Healthcare Commission asked 850 users to fill in the survey and 202 responded.
SLaM performed worse than other trusts in:
- Community support.
- Crisis care (for emergencies out of office hours).
- Patients being given, and understanding, a care plan for their mental health needs, and being involved in deciding it.
- Support for family members and carers.
- Overall views and experience of SLaM.
Patients said SLaM performed about as well as other mental health trusts in six areas:
- Seeing a psychiatrist.
- Seeing a community psychiatric nurse.
- How medications are given out.
- Therapy.
- Care co-ordination.
- Care reviews.
What the report missed was what a good many reports have been missing out in the UK up until now and that is the fully spelled out connection between closed down or diminished services linked with the "Surplus money" generated by the NHS Trust.
How else were FT Trusts supposed to "earn" money but by a magical and tragical accounting methods and erasing a few services ? NHS UK, has been inside Alice's numerical and service version of Wonderland for some time it seems .
And in 2007 - 8, lo and behold the South London and Maudsley Foundation Trust achieved a
£ 5+ million surplus . Did it come from a magical hat ? No .. Its a disguised underspend on services and patients quite clearly have been suffering because of it ..
A UK Audit commission management letter of Sept 2008 states :
"The financial statements showed the Trust delivered a surplus of £5.2m for the year, which was marginally ahead of the plan. Key financial ratios required by Monitor were achieved and the year end financial risk rating from Monitor was 4 – no regulatory concerns."
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NHS foundation trusts
NHS foundation trusts (often referred to as 'foundation hospitals') are at the cutting edge of the Government's commitment to the decentralisation of public services and the creation of a patient-led NHS. NHS foundation trusts are a new type of NHS trust in England and have been created to devolve decision-making from central government control to local organisations and communities so they are more responsive to the needs and wishes of their local people. The introduction of NHS foundation trusts represents a profound change in the history of the NHS and the way in which hospital services are managed and provided
Educational Links :
The Non Executive Guide To Understanding Foundation Trust Accounts
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Art de Rivers
Birmingham, United Kingdom
Most RecentMost Recommended Comments (2)
at 10:28 on March 22nd, 2009
The appalling conditions at the Mid-Staffordshire NHS hospital as chronicled in the Healthcare Commission report demonstrate the problems of putting financial targets ahead of patient care. Shame!
at 17:45 on March 22nd, 2009
Yes - but the pattern of choosing a new means of NHS Trust "efficient financial governance" is replicated up and down the UK .. The really sinister thing is the way information and transparency into the NHS Trusts has altered and now very little is coming out until something really does go wrong ..I have known many patients over the past few years who will not use the NHS complaints systems because it has been so apalling and often results in great stress on top of pain suffered .
It's become a horrible closed up system ... Its not healthy for sure ..
Thanks for your input ..