Lancashire mental health trust spends £830,000 on training consultants (From Lancashire Telegraph)
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Lancashire mental health trust spends £830,000 on training consultants
1:15pm Wednesday 27th July 2011 in Hapton
Lancashire mental health trust spends £830,000 on training consultants
NHS bosses who ditched plans to build a new mental health hospital at Hapton have come under fire for spending more than £830,000 on training consultants.
Earlier this year, the Lancashire Telegraph revealed that Lancashire Care NHS Foundation Trust had scrapped £35million proposals to build a replacement unit for East Lancashire on former industrial land at Pollard Moor.
The move came after a ‘value for money’ review, following which trust chiefs opted to refurbish the Hillview and Pendleview units at Royal Blackburn Hospital site and close mental health wards at Burnley General Hospital.
Now, a Freedom of Information Act request has shown that Lancashire Care is spending more than £830,000 on an ‘appreciative leadership course’ for managers.
Last year the trust had to make £11million savings and a similar target is believed to have been set for this year.
Tim Ellis, Unison health regional organiser, said: “There are major concerns about this level of spend on training consultants.
“The NHS is being forced by the coalition Government to sustain the highest level of cuts since its foundation.
"This will inevitably, and detrimentally, affect local health care provision.
“We see this in the apparent abandonment of local mental health provision at Hapton and the planned ward closures across the trust.
"The public need local health provision, not huge-scale cuts, and not money frittered away on consultants.”
The £983,000 contract was awarded to Glasgow-based Fiona McNeil Associates.
The company describes itself as a ‘people development consultancy’.
A Lancashire Care spokesman said the contract was part of its organisational development strategy and had been awarded to the company following a full procurement exercise.
The spokesman added: “The trust has invested in an appreciative leadership programme to provide over 600 front-line leaders, from all professions, with skills to help improve quality and provide efficient services.
“This is an important part of the trust’s capability and capacity to continue to improve services.
"It is equally important that during this time of financial pressure, we continue to invest in our staff to maintain quality, and skill staff up for the future.
Comments(4)
gutterpress
says...
2:35pm Wed 27 Jul 11
Monitoring-MH
says...
5:32pm Wed 27 Jul 11
Outsourcing this is stupid rather than brainstorming what is wrong with the organisation's reach and quality using local people's knowledge and skills .
There is a strong whiff here of poor leadership and confidence at the top areas of this Trust ..
Worse still is the way people tolerate these ritualistic methods of so called accountability on FT's - using weak methods locally with Governors who are little more than cardboard cutout "stills" ...
£830,000 ? A nice little earner for the corporate classes isn't it ? I wonder who is connected to who in all of this ? Find out !
Heretical
says...
6:42pm Wed 27 Jul 11
It will tell you all you need to know.
Words fail me.......what were they thinking?
Read the 'reflections' it's like 'newspeak'.
bbgal says...
2:00pm Wed 27 Jul 11
As a carer with a husband who had alzheimers disease i fear for the future as soon there will no longer be any local older adult wards and if my husband needed hospital care again i would be forced to travel to Blackpool. As a non car driver and registered disabled i would be reliant on my family to take me to visit.
I recently visited the Blackburn unit to find it had been renovated with new flooring, blinds and re decoration i wander how much this all cost? More wasted money now the unit is to close.