Unprecedented NHS debt threatens Christian hospital
-20/03/06
Unprecedented NHS debt is
Unprecedented NHS debt threatens Christian hospital
-20/03/06
Unprecedented NHS debt is threatening the future of a well known Christian hospital.
The tightening budgets that many hospital trusts are running has led to a lack of UK patient referrals to HIV/AIDS-specialist Mildmay Mission Hospital.
This, combined with plummeting donations, means the charity is facing a bleak future, with the next year being “make or break” for the hospital.
The charityís voluntary income came to a virtual halt with the impact of last yearís global disaster appeals including the Tsunami, South Asian Earthquake and Hurricane Katrina. It now looks set to be £250,000 off target for the current financial year. Moreover, fewer referrals from cash-strapped NHS primary care trusts (PCTs) see Mildmay predicting a reduction of around £200,000 in its 2006-7 contracts.
The Mildmay Hospital, based in east London, has already been forced to close one of its three wards, effectively losing a quarter of its 34-bed capacity. This is in spite of being a unique national facility for HIV-related brain impairment and a place of excellence for complex HIV/AIDS care management and rehabilitation.
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Mildmay director Steve Small said: “The next 12 months will either make or break us. Our ability to adapt to the changing HIV/AIDS scene has been crucial to our survival over the years. Yet with the NHS looking at debt of around £750m (source: BBC survey), independent hospitals such as Mildmay are feeling the knock-on effects. We have an excellent relationship with our commissioners and referrers, but they are in a difficult position and under real financial pressure.”
As many PCTs struggle to address their own budget deficits, patients would seem to be losing out. In some cases, people who could benefit from Mildmayís rehabilitation are blocking beds in an acute centre or being sent home with no specialist support. As a result, they risk never reaching their full potential. The problem is, PCTs face an annual dilemma of financing the needs of a growing HIV population from inadequate budgets – and this has the effect of squeezing Mildmayís service.
A freeze on recruitment and ënatural wastageí are unlikely to yield the savings required. To recover its losses, Mildmay has not ruled out staff cuts, nor the withdrawal from one or more international programmes in sub-Saharan Africa or even the scaling back of free care and drugs for sick children.
“The combination of fewer referrals and a downturn in donations has taken its toll on the charity as a whole,” says Steve Small.
“Yet the need for our services continues to grow, both in the UK and worldwide. HIV/AIDS is a major disaster all of its own – killing almost as many people in the world each month as died in the Boxing Day Tsunami. Unless we find new funding urgently, we will be forced to claw back our deficit in ways we would rather not have to consider.”
Unprecedented NHS debt threatens Christian hospital
-20/03/06
Unprecedented NHS debt is threatening the future of a well known Christian hospital.
The tightening budgets that many hospital trusts are running has led to a lack of UK patient referrals to HIV/AIDS-specialist Mildmay Mission Hospital.
This, combined with plummeting donations, means the charity is facing a bleak future, with the next year being “make or break” for the hospital.
The charityís voluntary income came to a virtual halt with the impact of last yearís global disaster appeals including the Tsunami, South Asian Earthquake and Hurricane Katrina. It now looks set to be £250,000 off target for the current financial year. Moreover, fewer referrals from cash-strapped NHS primary care trusts (PCTs) see Mildmay predicting a reduction of around £200,000 in its 2006-7 contracts.
The Mildmay Hospital, based in east London, has already been forced to close one of its three wards, effectively losing a quarter of its 34-bed capacity. This is in spite of being a unique national facility for HIV-related brain impairment and a place of excellence for complex HIV/AIDS care management and rehabilitation.
Related Articles
Mildmay director Steve Small said: “The next 12 months will either make or break us. Our ability to adapt to the changing HIV/AIDS scene has been crucial to our survival over the years. Yet with the NHS looking at debt of around £750m (source: BBC survey), independent hospitals such as Mildmay are feeling the knock-on effects. We have an excellent relationship with our commissioners and referrers, but they are in a difficult position and under real financial pressure.”
As many PCTs struggle to address their own budget deficits, patients would seem to be losing out. In some cases, people who could benefit from Mildmayís rehabilitation are blocking beds in an acute centre or being sent home with no specialist support. As a result, they risk never reaching their full potential. The problem is, PCTs face an annual dilemma of financing the needs of a growing HIV population from inadequate budgets – and this has the effect of squeezing Mildmayís service.
A freeze on recruitment and ënatural wastageí are unlikely to yield the savings required. To recover its losses, Mildmay has not ruled out staff cuts, nor the withdrawal from one or more international programmes in sub-Saharan Africa or even the scaling back of free care and drugs for sick children.
“The combination of fewer referrals and a downturn in donations has taken its toll on the charity as a whole,” says Steve Small.
“Yet the need for our services continues to grow, both in the UK and worldwide. HIV/AIDS is a major disaster all of its own – killing almost as many people in the world each month as died in the Boxing Day Tsunami. Unless we find new funding urgently, we will be forced to claw back our deficit in ways we would rather not have to consider.”