HEALTH cuts are on the agenda for 2006 as NHS chiefs struggle to balance their books.

Penny Jones, acting chief executive of Selby and York Primary Care Trust (PCT), said money-saving decisions would be taken in the coming months, which would inevitably impact on York Hospital.

But hospital chiefs are concerned patients may suffer as funding dwindles and targets increase.

The Evening Press revealed in November how the PCT had told York Hospitals Trust to stop doing non-urgent operations more quickly than the standard six-month waiting time, because treating patients more speedily was putting increased pressure on its budget.

Mrs Jones was given the task of sorting out the PCT's £9.4million debt after a hard-hitting Audit Commission report expressed "serious concerns" over the trust's ability to meet its main statutory financial target.

The report stated the debt could rise to a cumulative deficit of £47million by the end of 2007/08.

Last month, the organisation was criticised for reducing York Walk-in Centre's opening hours - seemingly without consulting York Hospital.

Now, Mrs Jones said it was vital the trusts worked together. She said: "We have to work with the hospital; whatever happens in the community can impact on the hospital and vice versa," she said. "We don't want people having to go to A&E when they don't need to.

"We're working very hard at the moment and we are making a lot better use of beds we have in the community and in places like Archways (an intermediate care centre).

"I appreciate that whatever we do will have an impact on the hospital, but we're trying to do things that stop people having to go into hospital."

Meanwhile, Mrs Jones said she was striving to improve patient services.

"Last year, clearly the PCT had a very difficult financial situation to manage, and so the emphasis had to be with sorting that out. I think sometimes people think therefore we're not getting on and improving services.

"People are working really hard now and coming up with good ideas to enable us to get back into financial balance.

"People are having to think very creatively about how we do that and minimise impacts on patient care."

She added: "I talk to Jim Easton (chief executive of York Hospital) most weeks and GP leaders every two weeks.

"My hope for the year is relations between us all will go from strength to strength."

Hospital chief's patient concerns

A SENIOR manager at York Hospital said today he was "worried" about the situation.

Director of nursing Mike Proctor said discussions were ongoing to ensure there was minimal disruption to patient care.

He said: "The PCT purchases services from the hospital trust and they have an absolute right to decide what services they want to buy.

"But we, as a hospital trust, expect the PCT to consult with us and take heed of any concern we may raise about their future plans and the impact on our patients."

Referring to the PCT request to the hospital not to treat non-urgent patients before the Government's six-month wait target, Mr Proctor said: "We're still talking to the PCT about how it will work.

"We're keen to ensure that even if patients are identified as routine, that some of those groups of patients, for clinical and other reasons, will be seen quicker than six months. We're talking to them (the PCT) about a whole raft of clinical exceptions."

Updated: 09:48 Wednesday, January 04, 2006