Last week the Government announced that it had put South London Healthcare NHS Trust into administration. This is the first time that an NHS Trust has been put into administration.
South London Healthcare NHS Trust
The Trust was created on 1 April 2009 with the merger of three hospitals: the Princess Royal Hospital in Orpington, Queen Mary’s Hospital in Sidcup and the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Woolwich. Prior to April 2009, all three hospitals were already reporting financial deficits.
Since the new Trust’s creation, it has run up debts of more than £150m. Last year, the Trust turned over £424m but still ended up with a £69m deficit. As well as being in financial difficulty, the Trust is known to have some of the longest waiting times for operations and longer than average waiting times in A&E. However, the Trust has low infection and death rates.
Matthew Kershaw, who works as the National Director for provider delivery at the Department of Health, has been appointed as a special administrator and took post on 16 July 2012. Health Secretary Andrew Lansley commented that Mr Kershaw will assume full control of the Trust by replacing the functions of the Trust’s board.
As part of his role, Mr Kershaw will examine the difficulties at the Trust before publishing a final report on his findings on 29 October 2012. This will be followed by a month long consultation with staff, patients and members of the public. Mr Kershaw will then submit a further report to the Government in January 2013.
It is hoped that Mr Kershaw’s involvement will help to bring improvements in mortality rates, maternity services, infection control and reduced waiting times. It has been reported that Mr Lansley’s key objective is for all NHS Trusts to ensure that they deliver high quality services topatients that are clinically and financially sustainable for the long term.
Patients with claims against South London Healthcare NHS Trust should not be concerned about the Trust’s ability to pay out compensation now it is in administration. All NHS Trusts (including South London Healthcare) are part of the Clinical Negligence Scheme for Trusts (CNST) which is administered by the NHS Litigation Authority (NHSLA). In simple terms, the CNST is an insurance scheme which South London Healthcare has been and continues to be a part of. Any compensation for claims made for clinical negligence against South London Healthcare will be paid out of this insurance scheme.
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