Consultants drive rising pay costs at Ipswich Hospital

The trust’s financial performance report said: “Pay continues to overspend and was £182,000 higher than January, mainly driven by consultant costs.”

The report also said that January’s spending included costs for staff on the Mutually Agreed Resignation Scheme of £138,000.

At the end of February, the trust was reporting a year to date surplus of £627,000, below its budgeted surplus of £2.9m.