Trust rapped for ‘irregular’ £116k payment to outgoing CEO
An NHS trust has been reprimanded by the public spending watchdog after it paid its departing chief executive more than £100,000 without prior Treasury sign-off.
Revealed: the trusts with the worst summer A&E handover delays
Patients stuck in ambulances queuing outside A&Es have waited an average of over two hours at two trusts this summer, data published for the first time reveals.
Repairs backlog leaps 60% at trust rejected for rebuild
A trust’s maintenance backlog has risen by 60 per cent in a single year – more than four times the typical annual increase – after its bid for national funding to rebuild its main hospital was turned down.
Trust hit by strike over backpay dispute
Another trust faces strike action by healthcare assistants, as a dispute which began in the North West spreads to other parts of the country.
Trusts agree staff rebanding deal after year-long dispute
Two acute trusts have agreed to reband around 1,500 healthcare assistants – and to backdate pay for five years.
The Download: A closer look at the FDP in action
The fortnightly newsletter that unpacks system leaders’ priorities for digital technology and the impact they are having on delivering health services. This week written by correspondent Joe Talora. Contact HSJ in confidence here.
40% of funding targeted at improving emergency care goes unspent
Fourty per cent of the £150m capital funding pot NHS England made available to incentivise urgent and emergency care improvements was not distributed, data shown to HSJ reveals.
Building a hospital ‘not difficult’, says re-elected mayor
A mayor is planning to launch a consultation to build a new hospital the government says he has no powers to build – claiming the project “doesn’t seem difficult”.
Trust ordered to make second £400k-plus payment to a whistleblower
A trust which last year was ordered to pay a whistleblowing nurse nearly £500,000 must now give a surgeon £430,000 to compensate him for the racial discrimination and harassment he faced after raising patient safety concerns.
ICB warned of ‘large financial risk’ from HCA wage claim
NHS organisations across Surrey are to review healthcare assistants’ pay in the face of potential strike action at one trust.
Trusts offered up to £4m to make last-ditch attempt on A&E target
NHS England has confirmed new financial incentives for trusts to deliver strong performance against the four-hour emergency target this month.
Lack of collaboration a factor in failed bids for new hospital, says CEO
The lack of collaboration with a neighbour was a factor in a trust being overlooked for capital investment to rebuild an acute hospital, its chief executive has suggested.
Strikes spread to more trusts over backpay dispute
Strike action by healthcare assistants looks set to spread to more trusts, having so far been confined to the North West region.
Revealed: The ‘unacceptable’ hospital buildings with no investment
Estates chiefs at 19 acute hospitals have classed more than half of their occupied space as “not functionally suitable” and lacking any promise of major investment.
Five trust CEOs were paid more than £300,000 last year
Several trust chief executives were paid more than £300,000 in 2022-23, including adjustments for previous underpayments, pay in lieu of pension contributions, and redundancy packages.
A&E target set to be raised, despite NHS missing lower bar
NHS England and government are set to raise their target for four-hour A&E performance, despite most hospitals failing to meet the current ask.
Projects excluded from ‘40 new hospitals’ programme had ‘political issues’
Internal government documents show some of the building schemes that failed to make the final list of ‘40 new hospitals’ were flagged as having potentially serious ‘political issues’, HSJ has discovered.
Hospitals close areas after discovering RAAC planks
More hospitals have closed parts of their site after discovering potentially unsafe concrete had been used in the building structures, HSJ has learned.
Trusts bring in joint CEO after NHSE intervention
A joint chief executive has been appointed to lead two neighbouring acute trusts following threats of regulatory action from NHS England.
Be careful of celebrating staff as ‘heroes’, NHSE advises trusts
Trusts haven been warned to be careful of “contentious” approaches to staff recognition, such as those that mimic the “clap for carers” initiative organised during the pandemic.