Great Western Hospitals Trust has revealed it spends £1.2 million a day to provide services.

That is £200,00 more every day than before the pandemic, which GWH director of finance and strategy Simon Wade said is ‘reflective of the environment’.

The greater need for temporary staff and PPE, and the general impact of the pandemic were given as reasons for the increase at the annual members’ meeting this week. 

Of the £418.8m the trust spent in the last year, over half was dedicated to staff costs.

Covid made up £1.3m of the capital programme. 

Mr Wade’s overall message was a positive one. The trust delivered a better deficit position than its aim of £3.8m despite missing out on income from services like car park fees.

He said: “What’s really important to recognise is that we did have a plan and we achieved that plan. 

“Although central money was issued, a lot of organisations didn’t deliver their plans.

“We were on track for the whole year, which is a tremendous achievement.

“We are managing within the resource envelope the trust has.
‘Recovering finances’ is one of the trust’s four strategic priorities for the next year."