Friday brief: Northants health system overspending as county’s two hospitals bust budget
It's the end of the week and time for our Friday brief
Northants health system is running millions of pounds over plan, as the county’s two hospitals are massively overspending.
The Northamptonshire integrated care system is predicting it will spend £41m more than its government allocation, joining the county’s two councils in a deficit position.
The main overspenders are the county’s two general hospitals, which are both part of the University Hospitals of Northamptonshire group led by chief executive Richard Mitchell.
Kettering General Hospital, which has recently suffered significant reputational damage after the tragic death of a teenager whose sepsis was not diagnosed, is forecasting a £17.7m overspend, £7.7m worse than expected in month five of the current financial year.
Its sister hospital in Northampton is predicting it will spend £20m more than it has been allocated. Northamptonshire Healthcare Foundation Trust - which provides community healthcare and mental health services - thinks it will spend £3.7m more than it has.
A report to the board this month explained the overspends as a result of inflation, rising demand and costs linked to industrial disputes.
The resources committee gave the finance plan a worst rated ‘no assurance’ when it met at the start of this month. It said it awaits an external review that is being carried out into the finances of the hospitals.
In the most recent 2023-24 financial year the system ended up £11.6m over its 1.6bn budget.
The integrated care board, which oversees the health system, made a number of redundancies this year to reduce its costs.
News in brief
More than 300 complaints from the public were lodged about Northants Police in the most recent three month period.
Between July and September, 310 public complaints were made from the public and 18 new internal misconduct complaints were lodged with the force’s professional standards department, according to new information posted to the police’s website.
It says:
During this period PSD formally investigated and finalised a total of 18 cases of Misconduct, involving 12 Police Officers and 5 members of Police Staff and 1 Special Constable (NB: some of these matters may have been recorded in previous reporting period):
3 cases resulted in a finding of no case to answer
11 cases resulted in a case to answer for which Reflective Practice was the outcome
2 cases resulted in a case to answer and were assessed as amounting to Misconduct (1)
1 case resulted in a case to answer and were assessed as amounting to Gross Misconduct (2)(3); these related to 2 Police Office, 0 Special Constables and 1 member of Police Staff who attended a Gross Misconduct hearing
0 cases resulted with no action due to the individual leaving the Force
Plans to build 150 flats on a former supermarket site in Corby will go before councillors next week.
Officers at North Northamptonshire Council have recommended the councillors approve the housing scheme on the former Co-op site on Alexandra Road which will include flat blocks up to six storeys high. The majority will be one bed and two bed flats. The application has been submitted by Glenrowan Homes, whose director Michael Boyle is also a director of M.P.B Structures, which has other commercial developments in the town.
A plan to turn three workshops in the 80 acre Lilford Hall estate in East Northants into three homes is also on the agenda of the planning committee meeting due to take place on Wednesday at Corby Cube.
The Northants police, fire and crime commissioner has recommended a new head of finance.
Vaughan Ashcroft, who was the chief finance officer at Northants Police and became the interim finance boss at the commissioner’s office in December after Helen King departed, was questioned by the police, fire and crime panel this week.
Commissioner Danielle Stone said he ‘was the outstanding candidate’ and that her office had advertised far and wide for the most suitable person.
The panel made their decision in private and it will be made public soon.
A government scheme to regenerate brownfield sites has awarded more than £2m to West Northamptonshire Council to bring forward stalled projects.
The £2.6m funding from the Brownfield Land Release Fund go towards remediation works at the former bus depot in St James and the University of Northampton Avenue Campus site.
A £1.36m grant will pay for works to remedy ground contamination and asbestos at the St James site which has been vacant for a decade. The authority was bought by the West unitary last year from owners Prada. The shoe company had been helped out by the former Northampton Borough Council to buy the land, and made a substantial profit after holding onto it for several years without development. As revealed by NN Journal, the borough council made a loss on the deal, which involved it buying the site and then selling it onto the shoe firm for a loss.
New roads and utility upgrades will happen at the former university site following a £1m grant.
And the former Ecton Brook Care Home site will be demolished in preparation for a new affordable housing scheme, after receiving a £200,000 grant.
NN Events
🎨 An exhibition of art and photography to mark Black History Month is on at the Castle Theatre, Castle Way, in Wellingborough until the end of this month. Check the theatre’s website for opening times.
⚡The Diwali Festival of lights takes place in Northampton town centre this Saturday from 6pm.There will be a series of events including music from 10am to 8pm.
It is not surprising that KGH is massively overspent. Poor leadership is to blame. Let me give you an example - an agency nurse doing home visits recruited from Kent. Travel paid for as well as overnight stays coupled with a higher rate of pay. How many of these are there? How many Drs?
Perhaps this should be investigated. It is not as though this is a good hospital. It had poor patient safety and clearly is not value for money 😩