Croydon hospital relies on extra £5.6 million to keep running

 
Cash injection: Croydon University Hospital (Picture: Google Street View)

The London hospital that declared an “internal major incident” because of pressure on its A&E department is having to rely on an extra government cash injection to keep going, according to official documents.

They show that Croydon Health Services Trust needed £5.6 million from the Department of Health to ensure a sufficient cash flow until the end of March to meet “operational requirements”.

It highlights the precarious financial position of the trust, which runs Croydon University Hospital.

Shadow health secretary Andy Burnham said: “Not only do we have an A&E crisis but it’s clear that the NHS is also now grappling with a financial crisis at the same time.”

The trust said that seeking the funding was “routine” for any hospital with a deficit and was not related to current pressures in A&E. A spokesman added: “This financial year (2014/15) we did not have enough cash in the bank to cover our deficit for 12 months.”

The internal major incident put in place at the Croydon hospital was stepped down to “business continuity plans” by yesterday afternoon.

The trust has spent beyond its budget to deliver care for the local community over the past few years. The funding shortfall is being partly put down to the above-average number of residents who are not registered with a GP, as local NHS services are mostly funded according to the number of registered patients in the area.

The trust is also seeking to recruit more permanent doctors and nurses after spending millions on more expensive agency health staff.

David Cameron admitted that performance at some hospitals in London and other parts of the country needed to be improved.

“But we should be clear with Croydon Hospital, in the last week it was meant to see 95 per cent of people in A&E in four hours and it only managed 91.3  per cent. That is still nine out of 10 so let’s be clear about this,” he told BBC London radio.

He said that Croydon had received an extra £4.5 million out of £700 million for the NHS to cope with winter pressures this year.

The Prime Minister highlighted that at other hospitals in London the A&E target was being met, including Guy’s and St Thomas’, the Homerton and Chelsea and Westminster Hospital.

Addenbrooke’s in Cambridge is the latest hospital to activate a major incident plan to cope with demand.

A&E figures published yesterday show that hospitals across England managed to treat 92.6 per cent of patients within the four-hour target between October and December, below the 95 per cent target.

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