You may remember that back in November, our regulators Monitor announced an investigation into our finances, which was automatically triggered by our application to receive extra funding.
Since then, we have kept staff, commissioners and regulators regularly informed about our financial position.
Monitor have today formerly announced that their investigation has now closed.
Their full statement, followed by a message of reassurance from Liverpool Women's, can be seen below:
Statement from Monitor
Monitor will be taking action to support the specialist Liverpool Hospital to find ways to improve its finances.
An investigation launched in November 2015 has found that the trust will need additional financial support to tackle its predicted deficit of £7.3m.
The health sector regulator has recognised that significant work has been done by the trust to address its financial problems, but recommended that extra support would help it recover its finances so that it can continue providing quality care to patients.
The trust – which provides maternity, gynaecology and neonatal care services to women throughout Merseyside, and specialist services to patients across the United Kingdom – has agreed to work with local and specialist commissioners to develop a strategic recovery plan to find solutions to the financial challenges it faces.
Paul Chandler, Regional Director for Monitor said:
"We welcome the hard work the trust has done already and hope that the steps we have agreed with the trust will support it to improve its financial position."
"Working closely with commissioners and other local stakeholders to further develop a strategic recovery plan will enable the trust to balance its books and ensure it can keep delivering high quality care for patients into the future."
Monitor will continue to work closely with the trust as it develops and implements these plans.
Message of Reassurance from Liverpool Women’s
Dianne Brown, Director of Nursing and Midwifery at Liverpool Women's, said: "We welcome the closure of this investigation. As a Trust we are committed to providing safe and high quality specialist women’s health services for the people of Liverpool and beyond. We commenced a project two years ago to ensure that our services continue to be safe and sustainable for future generations of women, babies and their families, in partnership with our commissioners. Whilst the reasons behind this project are to address changes in the clinical needs of those using our services, we will also look to ensure these services are financially sustainable."
Vanessa Harris, Director of Finance at Liverpool Women's, adds: "We have been very open about the financial challenges that we face. We announced a planned deficit of £8m at the start of the year in April 2015, and we have in fact reduced this deficit in year to a plan of £7.3m. We cannot do any more to reduce our deficit this year, and this level of deficit means we needed to apply for cash funding from the Department of Health to bridge the gap. Applying for this funding automatically triggered an investigation via our regulator Monitor."
Kathryn Thomson, Chief Executive at Liverpool Women's, said: "I would like to reassure the public that a number of external reports have already shown the Trust to be an efficient provider of services with good financial management. As people will know from media reports nationally, we are not alone with facing a deficit this year. However we take this very seriously and staff have been working very hard to save money in every way we can, whilst ensuring that our services remain safe and at a high quality. Unfortunately a number of external factors beyond our control contribute to the position we are in, including the money that is paid to us to provide maternity services which doesn’t cover their cost."