NHS cash eaten up by increase in appointments (From Your Local Guardian)

NHS cash reserves eaten up by increase in Kingston Hospital appointments

4:30pm Monday 30th January 2012 in Health By David Lindsell

An increase in the number of patients going for operations and appointments to Kingston Hospital has eaten into the cash reserves of NHS budgets.

Managers have been told to come up with an action plan to reduce day-cases and outpatient numbers after it saw a 19.2 percent increase in the number of patients being referred: 27,231 referrals over the eight months compared with the target of 22,728.

NHS Kingston Primary Care Trust (PCT), which receives the bills for treatment of patients from the borough, has eaten £1.3m of its £3.78m reserves eaten away by the increase, leaving it with a small £123,000 contingency.

The rise is believed to have been caused by either GPs referring more patients to hospital or patients turning up under their own steam.

A spokesman for NHS Kingston said: “NHS Kingston has released these reserves in order to meet the needs of Kingston residents that have arisen this year above and beyond predicted trends.

“These have mainly arisen in the following areas: non elective procedures in general medicine, day cases including trauma, orthopaedics and paediatrics, outpatient appointments for obstetrics, trauma and ophthalmology first attendances.”