Health trust boss says it 'cannot carry on' as it is and needs drastic improvements

Andrew Morgan, chief executive of ULHT, said he wants to see the trust be “outstanding” and has tabled an improvement plan.

It is currently in both quality and financial special measures with a forecast end of year deficit of £70 million.

Mr Morgan, who recently agreed to stay on until 2022, said the county’s hospitals cannot go on as they are.

“I believe this trust can get to be an outstanding trust by 2025 at the latest,” he said.

Hospital bosses agreed an integrated improvement plan for the next five years, which aims to make the organisation an “outstanding” trust.

But Mr Morgan said the scale of improvement will be a “journey” for the county’s hospitals.

While the trust is on target to reach its deficit plan agreed with regulator NHS Improvement, Mr Morgan said it was “not out of the woods yet”.

Mr Morgan said there was still a “significant financial problem” which “eats away at energy” and can be demoralising for staff.

Meanwhile, the trust also finds itself in quality special measures and is rated as “requires improvement” by the Care Quality Commission.

Mr Morgan said the organisation has been in this position for a long time and it needs to be sorted.

“While we are in this position, we will always be under the spotlight,” he said.

“We just can’t let this carry on. We can’t let the quality concerns carry on and we can’t let the financial problems carry on.

“That’s why we have an improvement plan to once and for all sort this trust out.”

Earlier this month, senior health officials approved a five-year improvement plan with an aim to make ULHT an “outstanding” trust.

The strategy outlines four areas the organisation needs to target in order to improve: patients, people, services and partners.

Among the priorities in the plan are improving patient experience, using resources efficiently and having “well led” services.

Mr Morgan described the strategy as a “root and branch” approach which makes clear what the trust wants to achieve.

“My commitment and the work that we have been doing is about an integrated improvement plan,” he said.

“It gets us from where we are now, a double special measures trust that has ratings problems, money problems and has staff feedback problems to one that is well on the journey to becoming outstanding.”