AN EXPERT team parachuted in to resolve the cash crisis at beleaguered Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust has declared the organisation “unsustainable” in its current form.
A team brought in by healthcare regulators Monitor in September to find a long-term solution to problems at the hospital trust and find a way to continue to serve the local population offered the damning report yesterday.
A Monitor spokesman said the regulator acknowledged the trust had made significant improvements in clinical standards in recent years but the expert team had advised they were likely to conclude the trust could not sustain itself financially or clinically in the long term.
“As the team goes on to look at alternative solutions, we at Monitor will work to ensure that local hospital services continue to be available for the benefit of the whole community.”
The expert team will make a final report to Monitor in the New Year to explain how they reached their conclusions.
In the mean time, the team are working closely with the trust, local commissioners, other healthcare providers in the region, patient representatives and members of the public to evaluate options for the long-term provision of care, including deciding how local services can be provided in a clinically and financially sustainable manner and what organisation form this care might take.
