Mid Yorkshire Hospitals Trust hit with £21m in financial penalties

Mid Yorkshire Hospitals Trust had £21.3m in government funding withheld from its budget in a two-and-a-half year period for admitting too many patients.

The trust, which runs Pinderfields, Pontefract and Dewsbury hospitals, was hit with penalties of £9m in 2012-13, £8.7m the following year and £3.6m in the first six months of 2014-15.

The cash was withdrawn as Mid Yorkshire faces a multi-million pound financial deficit and rising demand on its A&E departments.

Figures released under the Freedom of Information Act show the trust had funding withdrawn under financial penalties for the number of hospital admissions and the number of A&E patients returning to hospital for treatment within 30 days of being discharged.

Robert Chadwick, Mid Yorkshire’s finance director, said: “The quality of patient care has not been impacted as a result of having this funding withheld.

“The trust endeavours to achieve all the national standards within the National Operating Framework and will continue to do so going forward.”

Some of the cash withheld from hospitals is supposed to be kept in the NHS and reinvested in services.

But it is not clear where the cash taken from Mid Yorkshire’s budget has been spent.

Andrew Pepper, chief finance officer of Wakefield Clinical Commissioning Group, which controls the district’s NHS budget, said: “This money has been re-invested into local healthcare, with a range of activity designed to help meet rising demand and ensure that people get the care they need in the right place and at the right time.”

Mid Yorkshire’s financial deficit currently stands at around £9.1m after government funding to cut the shortfall by £8m was agreed.