Watchdog voices concern financial crisis at Rotherham NHS Trust

Monitor this week told Rotherham Foundation Trust that it was “in significant breach of the terms of its authorisation.”

But the trust stressed Monitor had decided not to use its intervention powers and work with hospital chiefs to turn things round.

Monitor said the trust has significantly underperformed on its financial plans leading to concerns about the way the trust is governed.

Key concerns cited by Monitor included the trust’s failure to deliver on its savings plans and the failure to successfully implement a new £50 million electronic patient records system which led to problems booking patient appointments and loss of income for the trust.

Stephen Hay, managing director for Provider Regulation at Monitor, said: “The trust has had financial problems for a while and we are concerned that their failure to address them may be due to the lack of adequate strength and capacity within the management team.”

He welcomed the appointment of interim chief executive, American businessman Mike Morgan, and hoped the Trust “can quickly strengthen the way it governs its finances.”

MORE ON DEVELOPMENTS AT ROTHERHAM HOSPITAL IN THIS WEEK’S ADVERTISER.