£32m centre is left underused (From The Wiltshire Gazette and Herald)

£32m centre is left underused

Trust's human resources director Paul BentleyFEWER patients than expected are using the flagship treatment centre at the Great Western Hospital.

The Brunel NHS Treatment Centre opened in April at a cost of £32m but not as many patients as anticipated have been booked in.

Swindon and Marlborough NHS Trust in charge of the hospital insist the state-of-the-art building is an asset and not a drain on resources.

The trust has announced that between April and June this year the trust as a whole overspent by £937,000.

Nearly a third of that is "unidentified cash", which includes money expected from elective surgery that is, non-emergency operations like hip replacements. Hospitals are given cash for each elective operation they carry out.

All elective surgery is now carried out in the centre.

Paul Bentley, the trust's human resources director, was unable to say how many operations have been carried out.

But he admitted staff expected more.

"We have not seen as many patients for elective surgery as we would have liked but no one expected it to be full from day one either," he said.

"The treatment centre represents a £30m investment in our hospital and that is significant.

"We have taken on 92 extra beds and opened extra operating theatres.

"We have not overspent our budget because of the Brunel NHS Treatment Centre we have overspent because it (the trust) is a complex operation to run.

"We built the centre for the future and we are confident that it will fill up during the year and continue to grow."

Mr Bentley added that patients are already noticing the improvements.

"It is a great building and the patients seem happy with the care they are being given," he said.

"We have been able to make a clear division between emergency and elective surgery."

Swindon and Marlborough NHS Trust has said that unless further improvements are made it will end the financial year with a total overspend of £950,000. In April the trust successfully cleared a £1.6m overspend chalked up over the 2004/05 financial year.

Kevin Shoesmith