FINANCE: Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital Trust has secured £6.5m of transitional funding, helping it improve its predicted financial end of year out-turn for 2011-12 from a £10.56m deficit to a breakeven position.

It has introduced a range of savings, including plans to reduce capacity through the closure of four wards, resulting in cost savings in the year amounting to £1.6m and recurrently £3.8m.

The trust is currently overspent by £1.78m - £189,000 more than planned. This is due to pay overspends. Whilst the numbers of staff employed within the trust has declined, the increased use of agency staff has resulted in a substantial level of overspending.

The fiance report to the 30 June board meeting states: “At the previous board meeting the trust were presented with a forecast deficit for the year amounting to £10.556m…The combination of actions being taken within the trust and non recurrent financial support enables the trust to produce a revised forecast for the year, which shows a balanced income and expenditure position for the year.

“That said, it is clear that within the financial position of the trust there exist substantial risks to the delivery of the income and expenditure position,” it added.