Hospital Trust £3.5m spend on management consultants slammed as “scandalous”

The Pennine Acute Hospitals Trust which runs the Rochdale Infirmary has spent a further £661,529.50 with management consultants Ernst and Young - bringing their total spend to almost £3.5million.

The Trust, which also runs hospitals in Oldham, Bury and North Manchester, announced last year that it would need to make £43million in savings – as previously reported on Rochdale Online it now needs to make savings of approximately £56million by April.

In January this year the Trust made two payments to Ernst and Young. The first, on 16 January, was a payment of £356,529.50 and the second, on 30 January, was £305,000.

Since December 2010 the Trust has spent £3,484,172.51 with Ernst and Young.

Last month Rochdale Online reported that the Trust has been given a ‘red’ risk rating by the North West Strategic Health Authority following assessment of its finances and saving plans.

The latest spend with Ernst and Young comes following the revelation that up to 300 jobs within the Trust are at risk.

Councillor Jean Ashworth has slammed the spend as “scandalous.”

She said: “Who monitors them? Surely, legally, we are entitled to know what they are doing. It is appalling.”

She added: “Where do we go from here? What do we do? We have got to do something.”

Break down of Trust spend with Ernst and Young: 

• January 2012 - £661,529.50
• October 2011 - £277,151.21
• September 2011 - £640,876.80
• August 2011 - £663,615
• April 2011 - £376,000
• March 2011 - £765,000
• December 2010 - £100,000

A spokesperson for the Pennine Acute Trust said: “Transforming for Excellence is our quality improvement and efficiency programme to maintain services through this economic downturn and achieve the necessary cost efficiency savings required.

"We believe it has been necessary to enlist the support and advice of management consultancy experts for a short term to work alongside our staff to identify where we can transform our services to improve patient care and in turn make the necessary savings.

“This year, through our Transforming for Excellence programme, the Trust has made savings of almost £43m, without affecting the quality of care we provide to our patients. That is a considerable achievement.

“Ernst and Young has helped our own staff deliver these savings. They have also helped us train and develop a team of our own staff to continue with the Transforming for Excellence programme.

“We have always said that using management consultants means that we have been able to get the extra support and skills we need for a short period of time without the added cost of hiring additional permanent staff. Now that our own staff are in a position to take forward the Transforming for Excellence programme the work with Ernst and Young will conclude at the end of February.”