Auditors called in over NHS debt (From Watford Observer)

Auditors called in over NHS debt

5:58pm Thursday 26th January 2006

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Hertsmere Primary Care Trust (PCT) has appointed external auditors to help it tackle an escalating £5.9 million debt, it was revealed last week.

The PCT, which has responsibility for 94,000 patients in the borough of Hertsmere, has seen debts rise by £1m in the last financial year and hopes the team of accountants from PriceWaterhouseCoopers can help it balance its books.

Hertsmere PCT chief executive Jacqueline Clark admitted the trust was struggling to contain costs but added that it was not unique in facing financial pressures.

She said: "We are trying to protect clinical services and we are looking at every position in the management team to see where we might make savings none of this is done lightly."

The financial turnaround team, paid for by Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire Strategic Health Authority, will assess where the PCT might make savings and will report back at the end of February.

The widening hole in the budget is due to a dramatic increase in GP referrals to hospitals and specialists, known as secondary care, since April. Under a new Government initiative called the Quality and Outcome Framework, GP practices are encouraged to identify and respond to illness earlier, which results in more referrals.

Health bosses last week met with GPs from the nine surgeries in Hertsmere to try to address the growing problem.

PCT chairman Stuart Bloom said he wanted to work in partnership with local GPs, but added: "We want GPs to understand that, every time they make a referral, they are writing a cheque."

An extraordinary meeting of Hertsmere Borough Council's joint health scrutiny committee will be convened in March to evaluate the findings of the financial turnaround team.

Committee chairman Seamus Quilty said: "Everyone has these problems.

"There are terrible financial pressures but we will just have to wait and see and hope it won't affect the patients of Hertsmere too drastically."

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