East Lancashire Hospitals face £26m financial crisis as urgent cost-cutting measures announced

East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust is facing a severe financial crisis, with their chief executive announcing urgent cost-cutting measures to address a £26million overspend.

In a letter to staff, Martin Hodgson revealed the trust is treating the cash crisis as “a major incident similar to our response to Covid”.

The trust is now “under a programme of system-level investigation and intervention, with an unequivocal mandate to reduce costs with immediate effect,” according to Hodgson’s statement.

The financial emergency comes as the trust grapples with extended A&E waiting times at Royal Blackburn Hospital.

The trust has announced a series of immediate cost-saving measures, including a freeze on all vacancies for a minimum of 12 weeks, with exceptions only for critical requirements.

All non-essential spending has been halted across every team without exception.

The trust will pause non-essential educational activities to reduce costs and keep staff in their roles, reducing the need for expensive bank or agency cover.

Management is also considering scrapping the shuttle bus service that transports patients between Royal Blackburn and Burnley General Hospitals.

The trust will reduce or completely stop any activities that it is not funded for.

Last week, the trust issued a “red alert” as patients at Royal Blackburn Hospital’s A&E department faced waits of up to 15 hours.

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Hodgson described the current waiting times as “unacceptable” and emphasised the need to focus on patient discharges.

The trust is prioritising getting patients home to reduce bed occupancy before Christmas and into the New Year.

“It is the inability to admit people from urgent and emergency care because others are waiting to be discharged that can result in patients being looked after in corridors,” Hodgson explained.

He added that this situation was “unsustainable for colleagues, patients and their families as an operating environment and its unaffordable to boot”.

Blackburn MP Adnan Hussain, who met trust bosses on Friday, called the situation “a huge area of concern” for his constituents.

“This situation is not new. It is an ongoing situation,” Hussain said, acknowledging the strain on staff during the winter period.

Blackburn and District Trades Union Council criticised the trust’s approach, stating: “The ‘overspend’ appears to be a good example of how ‘efficiency savings’ are really a sleight-of-hand expression for inadequate funding.”

Blackburn with Darwen Council’s public health boss, Councillor Damian Talbot, said the deficit was “part of a wider issue across the NHS nationally”.

Talbot added he had received assurances that “patient care and safety is paramount”.

Hodgson acknowledged the scale of the challenge, stating: “It feels like another huge mountain to climb but we can do this.”

The chief executive emphasised that improving patient safety while reducing costs could be achieved by ensuring only necessary hospital stays.

“One way I know we can improve patient safety and experience whilst reduce our costs is to ensure that only those who need to be in hospital are here,” he said.

The trust is now focused on maximising patient discharges “every single day and night” to address both safety concerns and financial pressures.

Looking after more patients than necessary “takes up enormous amounts of both energy and money,” Hodgson said.