Jan Sobieraj: How we will make our hospitals financially stable
Like many NHS trusts across the country we are facing some tough challenges, but these can also provide us with the opportunity to take a look at what we are doing and learn from staff and patients about how we can make improvements. But we cannot do it on our own! As part of our…
Like many NHS trusts across the country we are facing some tough challenges, but these can also provide us with the opportunity to take a look at what we are doing and learn from staff and patients about how we can make improvements. But we cannot do it on our own!
As part of our 2021 strategy we have been having lots of brilliant conversations and have already heard from more than 1,700 members of the public this year at meetings and via surveys.
The majority of people agree that our services need to change and 86% agreed with our priority to be more efficient and more productive. They have also shared their ideas on how we can achieve this.
A massive thank you to everyone who has taken the time to get involved, it is really appreciated. We have been busy analysing all of the results and hope to launch our strategy soon.
While this strategy will help make our services more financially sustainable in the long-term, we know we need to reduce costs now. We are looking at ways of how we can be more efficient while not compromising on safety and quality.
A significant way we can reduce our costs is to directly employ more doctors and nurses rather than use agencies and we are working hard to overcome the longstanding shortage of clinical staff by being more creative.
We are pushing ahead with our local, regional, national and international recruitment drive and looking at innovative ways to attract staff to the region. We are also looking forward to welcoming more than 100 newly qualified nurses who will be joining us in September.
Another way the public can help us is to attend hospital appointments when scheduled or let us know as soon as possible if you are unable to make it on a particular day.
Research shows the average cost of an outpatient appointment across the NHS is £116.92.
Last year, we recorded more than 57,000 instances across the trust where patients failed to attend prearranged appointments.
We completely understand that sometimes circumstances change at the last minute and you might not be able to give us much notice. However, many of these missed appointments could have been refilled if we had been told in advance. This in turn would also have helped bring down some of the waiting times for patients and make us more efficient.
By using the figures above this adds up to more than £6.6 million that could have been spent elsewhere. It could have paid for an additional 238 nurses for a year or been spent on new technology.
When times are tough, it’s often easy to just focus on the negatives and it’s during these times I feel it’s important to remember the positives too.
It has been wonderful to hear from so many of our patients and by working together we can all make the necessary changes sooner rather than later – helping to make our hospitals financially sustainable for the future.
If you would like to submit your ideas on how the trust can be more efficient please email [email protected]
Jan Sobieraj is the chief executive of United Lincolnshire Hospitals NHS Trust.
The Lincolnite welcomes your views. All comments are reactively-moderated and must obey the house rules. Please stay on topic and be respectful of other readers.
The Lincolnite welcomes your views. All comments are reactively-moderated and must obey the house rules. Please stay on topic and be respectful of other readers.
A 22-year-old man was this afternoon remanded in custody when he appeared before Lincoln Crown Court accused of murder.
Declan Grant, of St Mary’s Street, Lincoln, is accused of the murder of Darren Munnelly, 46, who was found with fatal injuries in the early hours of Sunday morning.
Mr Munnelly was discovered after emergency services were called to a property in Carr Street close to Lincoln city centre at 18 minutes past midnight on Sunday morning.
Darren Munnelly was a much-loved and very well-respected member of the community in Lincoln.
He was taken to hospital with a serious head injury but later pronounced dead.
Grant, who was wearing a grey sweatshirt and grey jogging bottoms, was flanked in the dock by two security officers.
He spoke only to confirm his name during the hearing which lasted less than two minutes.
Tributes line the ground outside flats on Carr Street, where Darren Munnelly was found fatally injured. | Photo: Ellis Karran for The Lincolnite
There was no application for bail and Grant was remanded in custody to appear back before the Crown Court on August 31 for a plea and trial preparation hearing.
Judge John Pini QC told him: “I’m adjourning this case for a plea and trial preparation hearing. That will take place on August 31. In the mean time you will remain where you are.”
A bomb from the Second World War that was detonated on a housing development near the Lincolnshire border has created a near 20ft crater.
The device, which weighed 227kg, was found on a new-build housing estate in Goole, East Yorkshire on Thursday, July 22.
It prompted eight houses to be evacuated and the M62 to close between junctions 35 and 37.
The device is believed to have been dropped by a Lancaster bomber during a crash landing, and it was successfully detonated at 4.22pm on Saturday, July 24.
It left a crater that was around 20ft deep, and it’s safe to say that development works on the Beal Homes build was temporarily delayed.
A plain clothed police officer in Scunthorpe was allegedly shot at in broad daylight by a 29-year-old man who has now been arrested for attempted murder.
The incident happened at 1.15pm on Glebe Road on Monday, July 26, and a police cordon was put in place around the area after the gun was fired.
The 29-year-old man was arrested and held in custody soon after the incident, for what is now reported as being on suspicion of attempted murder.
A police cordon surrounded the area after the incident. | Photo: BBC Local News Hub
Thankfully nobody was injured by the gunfire and investigating officers said that no further suspects are wanted in connection with this.
Assistant Chief Constable at Humberside Police, Chris Noble, said: “Understandably, an incident of this nature will come as a shock to local residents and the local community, and indeed to the police service.
“In response to community concerns, we have had an active presence in this area for a number of months now, and our commitment to proactive policing of crime will progress, undeterred.
“Local residents will continue to see a heightened presence in the area over the coming weeks as our officers and staff conduct enquiries, provide reassurance, listen to any concerns and engage with and support the community following yesterday’s incident.
“Although this incident is extremely serious, I would like to reassure members of the public that incidents of this nature in the Humberside police area are extremely rare.
“Our officers and staff remain dedicated to protecting members of the public, often placing themselves in dangerous situations and putting their own safety at risk to achieve this.
“Humberside Police has and will continue to provide support for the officer and our wider police family, as they come to terms with the events of yesterday.”
Whatsapp
