THE driving force behind of Southend Hospital expects its financial fortunes to be turned around within three years.

Sue Hardy, chief executive of the hospital, says there has been a renewed focus on reducing waste to ensure its finances can recover.

Health watchdog Monitor launched a probe into the “financial sustainability”

of Southend Hospital earlier this year after went into the red by £9.8million, having overshot its planned deficit by £2million.

The Echo understands Monitor has given a cautious thumbs up to the hospital’s “ambitious” recovery plan, after a check-up this summer.

Ms Hardy said: “We’ve had positive meetings with Monitor and with the smallest projected deficit of all the acute trusts in Essex I am pleased to say Monitor has recognised the hospital’s financial plans are ambitious.

“In developing our transformation plans, we knowwe have had to be ever smarter and think deeper about how we can spend our money in a more intelligent way, how we can focus money on the things that add value to patients and howwe can reduce waste to improve our quality of care at the same time as saving money.

“Feedback from Monitor was that it was clear there was clinical involvement in developing and delivering our financial plans, which in turn assures us all in the quality of our services.”

The hospital hopes to reduce the deficit from £9.8million to £7million in this financial year and to balance its books within three years.

It has brought down its spending on agency staff by reducing its overall vacancy rate by 40 per cent from April last year. Despite this, the trust still spends more than £1million a month on temporary staff.

It is also introducing a new way to streamline the way it serves patients.

As part of this, it has brought together, in one area, the male and female acute medical units, the day assessment unit, ambulatory care, a short-stay department for the elderly and a hospital to home service.

The creation of a single assessment area means patients are seen more quickly and by the right teams.

Dr John Day, clinical director for medicine, said: “This will mean we are better equipped to cope with the needs of acute medical patients.

“We have also adopted an ‘assess to admit’ approach, which means we can provide tests and investigations for patients without the need for them to stay in hospital.”

A Monitor spokesman said: “Our investigation into the financial sustainability of Southend Hospital is still ongoing. Monitor will announce the outcome of its investigation in due course.”