Northern Care Alliance faces £29 million black hole

Northern Care Alliance hospitals, Rochdale Infirmary, Fairfield General Hospital, the Royal Oldham Hospital, Salford Royal Hospital

The Northern Care Alliance NHS Foundation Trust (NCA) – which runs Rochdale Infirmary, Fairfield Hospital, Royal Oldham and Salford Royal – revealed this week that its year-to-date financial position at month three is a £29m deficit.

Managing the cost of junior doctors going on strike was blamed for the overspend, as well as lost income due to reduced activity while strike action was taking place. The Labour government recently offered junior doctors an average rise of 22 percent over two years to bring the strike to an end.

But the situation has taken a toll on the NCA, with the trust’s financial position £1.2m worse than initially expected, according to a report.

It follows a difficult year for the trust over reports that the NCA had to open a voluntary resignation scheme and launch a recruitment freeze, after admitting to facing “financial challenges.”

The NCA also faced stinging criticism from Salford City Council in June when members of a scrutiny committee said there is a perception that the NCA’s Salford Royal Hospital is “failing” the city, and that healthcare staff at the hospital were leaving because of working standards.

A damning report from the Care Quality Commission (CQC) in 2022 found that staff at Salford Royal ‘did not always feel respected, supported and valued’, and ‘did not always feel listened to.’ The inspection focused on the quality of emergency care services at the hospital.

David Thorpe, director of nursing at Salford Care Organisation, said at the time that the hospital is making a number of improvements to emergency care services, and that staff are “confident in the journey going forward.”

The Northern Care Alliance was contacted for comment.

Declan Carey, Local Democracy Reporter