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Stone Me! Hospital Which Bought Pounds 70,000 'Pebble' Revealed to Be Pounds 7m in Red

Posted on: Wednesday, 26 October 2005, 18:00 CDT

By REBECCA SMITH

A HOSPITAL that spent Pounds 70,000 on a giant stone artwork has been warned over a Pounds 7 million shortfall.

Earlier this year, University College London Hospital was criticised for spending charity funds designated for improving the patient environment on a piece of Brazilian granite to sit the pavement outside.

Now the foundation trust that runs the hospital has discovered it has a Pounds 7.6 million gap in its finances, which it must make up before the end of the financial year in April.

An email from one of the trust managers, leaked to the Standard, shows huge pressure being put on frontline services to save money.

The document, sent to staff by Alan Thompson, clinical director of the National Hospital - which is part of the trust - said: "Despite everyone's best efforts, we are not succeeding in achieving our savings targets for this year.

"We have been asked at very short notice to put together a robust plan which will guarantee that we break even by the end of March."

The independent foundation trust watchdog Monitor confirmed it had stepped up its surveillance of the trust from a quarterly basis to monthly. A spokesman for Monitor said: "We are looking closely at the steps they are taking to improve their financial situation."

The trust has hit problems because it is not doing enough routine- surgery, which is a source of income, and it has done more emergency cases than planned for. Many routine operations were cancelled because victims of the 7/7 bombings needed emergency care.

Also, some services have moved from sites around central London to the new hospital on Euston Road, and the Heart Hospital was closed for a period due to the outbreak of a stomach bug.

The hospital was officially opened by the Queen last week and sources claimed key areas were repainted and spruced up for her visit, even though the building had been in use only four months.

Today new figures revealed hospitals across the UK spent Pounds 9 million on artworks in the last two years.

The purchases included a Pounds 35,000 mural at a hospital in Oxford, Pounds 18,000 on textile roof hangings in Chichester, and Pounds 3,000 on a sculpture of 300 birds at a community hospital in Manchester.

Source: Evening Standard; London (UK)

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