THE Great Western Hospital Trust has said it is facing another challenging year as it seeks to save around £16 million.

NHS Improvement, the organisation responsible for overseeing foundation trusts, is currently working with the trust, which has an annual deficit of £10m, to find the savings.

Hospital chiefs have admitted it will be difficult but are confident a number of measures are being put in place to find the money.

Among them is a renegotiation of the expensive Public Finance Initiative deal which was signed to allow the GWH to be built in 2003.

While exact figures are not known, the deal with Carillion costs around £18m a year and sees the private company run certain facilities such as catering.

It is thought there is more than £210m still to pay off from the deal but any negotiation is likely to be a long process.

In a report to the council, Kevin McNamara, director of strategy at the trust, said: “The coming financial year looks to be just as challenging as the last, with Monitor (now called NHS Improvement) already setting a savings target of £16m.

“This will be tough, but we are confident we will be able to deliver the savings, thanks in part to a number of larger projects being worked on behind the scenes with the potential to generate significant savings.

“This includes the renegotiation of our PFI contract. This, however, is a long and complex process with any final decision subject to approval at a national level.”

Despite the deficit which the trust is running, it has been significantly reduced over the last 12 months, with a total of £16m being saved.

Speaking today, Kevin said: “Thanks to the hard work of staff from across the organisation, we now expect the 2015/16 year-end deficit figure to be in the region of just below £10 million.

“We have implemented strict new rules around the use of premium staffing agencies, which saved the trust nearly £750,000 in the first six months of the year, and improved our procurement of goods and services to ensure we are getting the best value.”

A NHS Improvement spokesperson said: “We help all trusts to plan and deliver savings every year so they can provide care to patients that is also good value for money.

“As part of its annual financial plan, Great Western Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust saved £16m over 2015/16.

"We supported its efforts to achieve these savings, and will also help it continue this progress and save another £16m as part of its financial plans for 2016/17.”