Southern Trust remained within budget in 2024/25, board told
Thursday’s (May 29) board meeting of the Southern HSC Trust heard that while the trust remains under considerable pressure, it has been successful over the last financial year in remaining within budget.
Interim chief executive of the Southern HSC Trust, Steve Spoerry told board members: “Emergency pressures remain very considerable. We are continuing to see people on trolley waits, trolleys in EDs (Emergency Departments), extra beds in wards, ambulances waiting outside.
“I and our senior leadership team met with our medical leaders on Tuesday, to collectively look at re-energising our efforts to deal with those problems.
“We will be making further attempts to improve the flow of patients through our system, and to think about the extent to which we are configured properly to deal with a changing presentation of patients, with more frail and elderly people.”
Executive director of Finance, Procurement & Estates, Catherine Teggart had more positive news on the financial front.
She stated: “We are reporting that we have achieved our financial target to break even in 2024/25. We are reporting, in revenues, a surplus of £106,000, which is 0.01 per cent of our revenue resource limit.
“So we have managed, as a Trust, to break even within our control total of £1.74bn. I’m also pleased to say that the Trust has achieved their £22m savings target, with an over-achievement of £89,000 at the year end.
“The Trust was successful in achieving break even due to additional funding support of £36m from the SPPG (Strategic Planning and Performance Group).”
The budget situation might be more challenging in 2025/26, Catherine Teggart explained, due to a Department of Health budget deficit which will have an impact on the Southern HSC Trust.
She explained: “Regarding the financial position 2025/26, we are still waiting on confirmation of our budget from the Department of Health. We have received our indicative budget. The Department is running with a broad deficit.
“Each of the Trusts is working towards individual savings plans to try to contain costs and reduce down expenditure in [areas which] least impact on patient safety. We are compiling those plans at the moment.
“We do need to ensure that the budgets are set for the directors.
“There are a number of regional work streams that are taking place to review the deficit that the Department of Health is faced with in 2025/26, and we know some of that should contribute to our overall deficit.
“There is a real concern, and significant challenges, regarding the funding allocation from the Department of Health.
“Within the Trust, we will continue to run our savings programme, we will continue to assess and drive down our costs where we can, and we will continue to liaise closely with the Department of Health.”