HUNDREDS of money-saving ideas are today being considered by Ipswich Hospital bosses after a series of emergency workshops were held in a bid to save more than £16million.
HUNDREDS of money-saving ideas are today being considered by Ipswich Hospital bosses after a series of emergency workshops were held in a bid to save more than £16million.
Staff from throughout the hospital were invited to attend the workshops, which have been running for the last month, and asked to come-up with areas where they think money can be saved.
Jan Rowsell, hospital spokeswoman, said: “We have had almost a thousand ideas generated in a series of 14 workshops, which have been attended by more than 100 staff.
“They range from small things like spending less on stationery to things like working out how to get a better deal from our suppliers, and there is now an awful lot of work going on while people look in more detail at how these things will work.
“We need to look at them closely and see whether or not they are feasible.”
The workshops were part of the hospital's continuing shake-up of the way it works, which is designed to get to the heart of the debt problem.
All the ideas which were generated will now be scrutinised by the hospital's steering group, which was set up to oversee the huge shake-up of hospital services that will take place over the coming months.
The steering group, which is made up of staff from all levels of the organisation, meets every Friday and will be working through the ideas until they come up with a list of those which they think can realistically be taken forward.
All those which are approved will then be put before the hospital's board at their next public meeting on September 28.
The final number of job cuts, which could reach up to 350, is also expected to be discussed at this meeting.
Ms Rowsell said: “We will continue to have regular staff briefings but at the moment there are no firm decisions to report.
“The picture will become much clearer by the end of September.”
The hospital's debt now stands at £16.7m - almost £5m greater than first thought.
Are you an NHS worker caught up in the hospital's problems? Write to Your Letters, Evening Star, 30 Lower Brook Street, Ipswich, IP4 1AN or e-mail eveningstarletters@eveningstar.co.uk>
WEBLINK: www.ipswichhospital.org.uk
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