Last updated at 11:44, Thursday, 12 July 2012

JOB losses are not on the cards at North Cumbria’s hospitals – despite bosses being faced with a massive new £16.9m savings target this year.

The man leading the hospitals’ ambitious savings plan, finance director Alistair Mulvey, said that it would not be a matter of simply slashing jobs.

He said: “We do not have a plan in place to make redundancies. We are still going to deliver the same amount of care so where there is a ward with 30 nurses that won’t change.”

Instead he believes the savings target can be achieved by making Whitehaven’s West Cumberland Hospital and Carlisle’s Cumberland Infirmary run more efficiently. He said staff will have to change the way they work so that services run more smoothly, having a knock-on effect on income.

Mr Mulvey stressed that there is still a huge financial challenge ahead, but believes the debt-stricken hospitals have turned a corner.

With a takeover now imminent, he said the picture is looking more positive – though he added the planned merger with Northumbria Healthcare will not be an instant fix.

“Financially, if it happens in December as planned, we could get four months worth of benefits – things like economies of scale of being part of a bigger organisation,” he said.

“But just because you change the name on the door, the fundamental issues of providing care at two district general hospitals an hour apart won’t go away. It will take time to unpick. I think there is a solution but the services we provide on both sites need to be running as efficiently as possible.”

Last week it was revealed that North Cumbria University Hospitals NHS Trust, which runs the hospitals, must find £16.9m in savings just to break even this financial year.

Further developments at the new Heart Centre in Carlisle will also bring more income.

However one major issue that has long been a problem for the trust is the cost of the Cumberland Infirmary, which was built using controversial Private Finance Initiative (PFI) funding back in 2000.

Acting like a mortgage, bosses have since been faced with hefty repayments of about £20m a year. The trust is one of a handful nationally in line for some Government support to help tackle this issue.

Although it has yet to be confirmed, he believes they will get £6m to £7m this year. He also believes that after the takeover, Northumbria will look at a way to buy out the hospital, as they are already doing in the north east.

First published at 11:08, Thursday, 12 July 2012
Published by http://www.whitehavennews.co.uk