Having reported a deficit of £4.5 million for 2009-10 in comparison to the predicted £2.1 million, Poole Hospital NHS Foundation Trust has faced investigations from independent NHS foundation trust regulator, Monitor, which has since stated that the trust will be subjected to meeting financial review milestones to ensure that these problems are addressed, reports Healthcare Today.
Monitor has expressed that it is keen for trusts to manage their finances independently, which is why it has refrained from using formal powers to intervene at this stage. However, it does raise the issue of just how important it is for trusts to have access to all financial data – right down to the smallest details.
Business intelligence systems, such as Ardentia’s patient level costing solution, allows trusts to review, analyse and report all costs for each and every patient. This can be from the number of minutes spent with a pathologist, to the cost of a specific surgery, which includes staffing and theatre use, to the amount of time spent in a hospital bed on a ward. All of these factors have costs attached, which when totalled can provide a clear indication of just where money is being spent – both effectively and, more importantly, where not so effectively.
For trusts to avoid multi-million pound debts, clinicians need to be working directly with finance managers to ensure there are clear lines of communications on just where money is being spent and where it is most needed.
