Trust meeting hears about further missed performance targets

A SERIES of key services provided by the Western Trust have fallen behind performance targets during the past quarter, a meeting of its Trust Board has been warned.

Performance targets are viewed as an important indicator of the pressures being faced by the NHS. But the figures both locally and throughout the north have consistently struggled to meet the set targets due to financial and other issues in recent years.

The Western Trust’s Board was told on Thursday that, while there were some improvements, other areas continued to fail to meet targets being demanded.

Among the areas where targets were not met during the previous quarter was in relation to the number of domiciliary care packages for people requiring support in their own homes.

Mrs Teresa Molloy, Director of Planning, Performance & Corporate Services said that formal notification of how they had performed during the past quarter were not yet available.

“We are likely to be given 20 areas which are unacceptable including 11 areas in unscheduled care, four in elective care, one which is our 62 day cancer target and four in public health areas. None of those are new to us,” she said.

“There is a level of scrutiny on those areas which is appropriate.”

The Chairman, Tom Frawley, said that the Trust is still very much in ‘recovery mode’ when trying to address a number of issues relating to the meeting of targets.

Details of the Trust’s financial position also showed that there was a revised deficit position of £1.3 million being faced it.

Director of Finance said that they were currently meeting with the Strategic Planning and Performance Group (SPPG) at the Department for Health to discuss work on the Trust’s Recovery Plan for the five period to 2030.

They were also outlining the potential for savings and also highlighted the impact of funding shortfalls on hospital and community services.

The concerns about the ongoing financial issues come as the Stormont Executive and Department for Health prepare for the distribution of additional funds from the Westminster Government.