WYE Valley NHS Trust is losing £100,000 a day.

The figure was revealed by Glen Burley, the Trust’s new Chief Executive, in his first Talking Point column in this week’s Hereford Times.

He writes that while “many trusts in the NHS are now in deficit ours is one of the largest”.

Mr Burley is also Chief Executive of South Warwickshire NHS Foundation Trust and says that his position is an example of the new approach in the NHS to collaborate more and to share best practice.

Mr Burley also states that one of the biggest problems facing the Wye Valley Trust is the cost of temporary doctors and nurses.

“My other Trust is around 50% larger than Wye Valley but spends around half the amount on temporary staff,” he says.

“These temporary staff are not only expensive, they know less about the way our local services work and as a consequence usually offer poorer care to our patients.”

He adds that one of the key themes of the Trust’s financial recovery plan will be to attempt to stop using temporary staff by recruiting “our own” workers.

Mr Burley said that the recently published “Sustainability and Transformation Plan” outlines many other ideas on how health providers aim to balance budgets while providing a good quality of care in Herefordshire.

  • For the full column, see page 56 of this week's Hereford Times.