East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (ELHT) has outlined its financial performance and plans for the year ahead at its annual general meeting.
The Trust reported an annual income of £831 million for 2024/25 at the meeting, held at Royal Blackburn Hospital on Tuesday (September 23).
Despite this, it recorded an adjusted financial performance deficit of £47.1 million, reflecting ongoing pressures on NHS finances nationally.
The deficit against the statutory breakeven plan was £30.9 million.
Mark Greatrex, interim deputy officer of finance, highlighted the challenges faced by the Trust in maintaining financial stability while delivering high-quality care.
“Seventy-four per cent of our expenditure goes on staff salaries,” he said, stressing the importance of investing in the workforce.
In total, ELHT invested £45 million in 2024/25 on new building works, service improvements, equipment, and IT.
The Trust has implemented a waste reduction and financial improvement programme, delivering £20.2 million in savings last year.
One saving came with the axing of the free shuttle bus service between ELHT sites across the region.
Looking ahead to 2025/26, ELHT aims to reduce its deficit by £60.8 million, returning to breakeven with the help of non-recurrent deficit support funding of £43.3 million.
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Mr Greatrex said the board, senior leadership team, and staff across all sites and services have embraced the challenge.
Efforts include improving productivity, embracing digital solutions, and strengthening financial control and governance.
“We are now almost halfway through the new financial year, and already we are seeing very positive performance, including reduced use of agency and bank staff,” he added.
Shazad Sarwar, chair of the ELHT Trust board, emphasised that patient care will not be compromised despite the focus on financial recovery.
“It is really important we deliver value for money. This is taxpayers’ money that goes into public services.
"We are absolutely committed to making sure that where we end up at the end of March 2026 is in the right place of value for money.
“As we started to reset our finances this year, we haven’t compromised quality. Safety has not been compromised.
"What we have done is we’ve actually looked into our resources and said we can do better in how we spend taxpayers’ money. That is the right thing for us to do by our patients, by our workforce, and importantly by our taxpayers.”
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