BY MARK McKELVEY
m.mckelvey@ulsterherald.com
A year after inheriting a financial deficit of almost £15 million, the Western Health Trust has announce that it has managed to balance the books.
But the question raised in the West Tyrone this week was, at what cost?
It was revealed in May 2007 that the Western Trust had inherited a £14.9-million shortfall from the former health trusts, with £6,615,000 being attributed to the failings of the Sperrin Lakeland Trust, £5,343,000 from the Altnagelvin Trust, and £2,955,000 from the Foyle Trust.
In addition to this, there was also the cost for out-patient conversions to day-case and in-patient treatment amounting to £1.1 million.
At the time, a spokesperson for the Department of Health said they were in discussion with the Western Health Trust concerning the impact of the deficit.
"As is the case for all trusts, any deficit must be addressed by subsequently reducing expenditure, this will apply to the Western Trust in this case," said the spokesman.
This week, the Western Trust revealed it had completed the 2007/08 financial year in a balanced financial position.
"The Western Trust is committed to delivering high quality health and social care to the 290,000 people living in the Western area within a total budget of just over £430 million," it said.
Reporting on the financial position at the May 2008 trust board meeting, Lesley Mitchell, the director of Finance, ICT and Contracting, confirmed this.
She said, "We started 2007/08 in an extremely challenging position with a £14.9 million deficit to deliver services. The trust moved quickly to develop a contingency plan to ensure it completed the year within budget. I am pleased to report that we have achieved this position."
Responding to the report, Western Trust chairman, Gerard Guckian, commended the efforts of all staff saying, "The performance this year has been truly remarkable. All staff have worked extremely hard to deliver on the contingency plan against a very challenging backdrop of organisational merger and increased targets. We have not only achieved a balanced financial position but we have also delivered a wide range of service improvements."
"In recognising this performance we must also look towards the incoming year. The Western Trust will continue to keep high quality patient and client care at the core of service delivery. We will focus on delivering better outcomes and improving the patient and client experience."
Responding to the trusts financial recovery, the chairman of the Omagh Hospital Steering Group, David McKee, was concerned at what price this has had on health provisions in the West Tyrone area.
Mr McKee said, "Obviously an organisation is pleased to have balanced their books and have a legal responsibility to do that. The problem that arises for people in this area is concerns that we have had services in our area reduced in order to help the financial situation.
"We do not believe there is equality of treatment for the people from this area, so if that is the price to balance the books, it is not an acceptable one."
