THE Care Quality Commission is due back at Hereford County Hospital in September to check on its progress against special measures.

Confirmation of the return visit comes with Wye Valley NHS Trust  already nearly £2 million down on its 2015/16 budget projection just a month into the new financial year.

That plan is now projecting an £18.3 million deficit as opposed to a £12.8 million expectation in February.

The cash position of the trust is now said to be entirely dependent on £19 million of financial support sought as “permanent borrowing”.

A further £14.5 million - in the form of long term loans - is needed to cover capital spending.

Meeting yesterday (Thurs), the trust board was told of a strategy intended to take the deficit down from that £18.3 million figure to around £16m over the next five years.

The board was warned of a need for  “alternative savings” if the level of budgetary decline continues.

Over 2014-15 the trust broke even only with the help of £12.7 million worth of one off financial support  from the NHS - secured on the condition that break even could be achieved.

In its annual plan, the trust identified the need for an in-year borrowing facility to be agreed by the Department of Health.

Much of the current deficit is down to a drop in elective activity against a well-documented rise in emergency admissions.

April saw 12 procedures cancelled on the day of surgery – the lowest number in over a year – and a further eight the day before for non-clinical reasons – nine because there were no available beds and another nine  because theatre lists had overrun.

The rest related to emergencies or trauma taking priority.

A&E attendance is now averaging around 146 patients a day to a unit designed to take 125.

Overall A&E performance for April saw 7,377 attendances, including 2,746 at the Primecare walk-in centre.

That represents a slight reduction on figures for April 2014.

The trust is expected to fail the NHS 18 week referral to treatment target of 90 per cent once figures for April are validated with a score projected at around 60 per cent.

Overall diagnostic performance is also below target with a performance in month of just over 93 per cent against a target of 99 per cent.

That represents a deterioration against performance in March of 97 per cent.

Out of 182 breaches, 148 were specifically due to repairs on a CT scanner, others came down to staff shortages and capacity issues in adult audiology, ultrasound and cardiology.