Stockport FT’s finances fall into red following Stepping Hill investigation

At the end of June this year Stockport was reporting a £354,000 surplus, more than £250,000 ahead of its 2011-12 financial plan.

On 13 July police began investigating deliberate contamination of saline bags with insulin at Stepping Hill, now believed to have poisoned 17 patients, killing three. By the end of August, Stockport was £266,000 in deficit, and more than £460,000 behind its financial plan.

A spokeswoman for the trust told HSJ: “In managing this incident we have incurred security, legal, police liaison and incident management costs. These are ongoing costs which are being constantly reviewed.”

Stockport’s August finance report stated: “There has been a deterioration in the [trust’s] position this month of £331,000 and this position includes the impact relating to the major incident.”

It added that the trust was reporting a financial risk rating of two, meaning a risk of significant medium-term breach of its terms of authorisation.