FINANCE CRISIS

Published: 09/12/2004, Volume II4, No. 5935 Page 7

A£250m hospital project will go ahead after the Department of Health agreed to give 'financial support' to help a trust in west Yorkshire get its spiralling debt under control.

It is unclear what level of support the DoH will be providing for Mid Yorkshire Hospitals trust, which has an historic deficit of£20.8m and a predicted end-of-year deficit of£15.9m.

Pinderfields General Hospital in Wakefield will now be entirely rebuilt as part of the scheme, which will also see investment at Pontefract General Infirmary and Dewsbury and District Hospital.

The decision comes just two months after the trust was reported to the government by the Audit Commission for failing to get grips with its financial problems.

A spokesman for the DoH refused to comment on whether similar financial support would be made available to other debt-ridden trusts, but said: 'The department has agreed, in these exceptional - and I would stress exceptional - circumstances, to provide financial support to the trust in managing its historic deficit. This will enable the trust to move forward on a firm financial footing.' The spokesman refused to shed any light on what the 'exceptional circumstances' were.

'We have said to the trust at the same time we have got to see that you are going to provide realistic and affordable financial and service delivery plans which will bring you to recurrent financial balance year on year, ' he added.

A trust spokesperson said: 'The Department of Health has agreed to provide financial support to the trust in managing its historic deficit.

'What they are not saying is [that] they are writing off all the deficit. We have been told we will be provided with financial support, but not the level of the financial support.' Wakefield MP and health select committee chair David Hinchliffe said there had been discussions between local MPs and the government about the financial position of the trust and the capital scheme.

But he believed the level of debt at the trust was unique. 'I am not so sure that the particular situation in Mid Yorkshire is replicated in some of the areas I am aware of and I know a fair number of trusts in some detail in various parts of the country, ' he said.