STAFF at South West Acute Hospital (SWAH) will face tougher pressures to ensure patient safety following the announcement of the Western Trust's £7 million saving plan across the West.

Yesterday (Thursday) the Trust outlined it would be making savings for the remainder of the financial year in three key areas: -Services -Workforce Controls -Non-pay expenditure.

And as a result, some vacancies in SWAH and across the rest of the Trust will not be filled for the foreseeable future.

The majority of these £7 million savings will come from workforce controls.

This will include a review of temporary contracts, a stricter criteria for the use of agency, band and locum staff and a delay in filling some vacancies.

Preferring to refer to their announcement yesterday as a “savings plan” rather than “cuts” to services, the Trust said the measures would be implemented between November and March next year.

“All Trusts in Northern Ireland have been asked to develop savings plans to address the financial deficit facing health and social care in Northern Ireland,” said a spokesperson for the Western Trust, “The Department of Health Social Services and Public Safety (DHSSPS) and the service commissioner, the Health and Social Care Board have now approved a savings plan for the Western Trust totalling £7 million.” Daycare services provision at Westbridge House, Enniskillen will cease and service users relocated to an alternative service locally. And the unfunded Scanning Bureau service in SWAH will also cease.

There will be a number of restrictions in relation to community services across the Trust including domiciliary care packages, wheelchair allocation, short breaks and independent sector residential/nursing home provision.

The Trust advises however, that any restrictions will be carefully managed to protect those in greatest need.

Mental Health Services for older people will be redesigned in line with the NI Dementia Strategy.  This includes a focus on community provision and maintaining service users in their own homes.  This will result in a reduction of beds across the Trust’s geography.

And some independent sector contracts which are not core activity for the Trust will stop.

Non pay controls including the reduction of spend on goods and services; tighter controls on non-clinical travel and restrictions on training will be in place for the rest of the year too.

“For all Trusts, the level of funding for waiting list initiatives to achieve waiting times for elective (planned) care and treatment has also been reduced from previous years,” said the Trust spokesperson, “This means that waiting times for assessment and treatment in the Western Trust will increase. However, the Trust will ensure that patients are treated on the basis of clinical priority.” In the development of its plan the Trust has taken account of professional advice to ensure the “continued safety of patients and clients”.  “However with such a sizeable reduction in expenditure, the quality of services will be affected,” the spokesperson warned.

“All such impacts and associated risks will be carefully monitored and managed and action taken to protect patients and clients.” “These savings are based on the principle of supporting priority patient and client care and the maintenance of essential services, and are being delivered through strict controls on staff recruitment, travel, training and education, and bringing budgets back into line with funded levels,” they added.