The Flevo Hospital in Almere is experiencing financial problems. The hospital must make savings of 14 million euros over the next three years. In addition, it has been placed under special management by the banks, which means that the banks monitor the financial situation of the hospital more often. Spokesperson Monique Gutteling of the Flevoziekenhuis confirmed this after earlier reports Almere This Week about that.
According to spokesperson Gutteling, the shortage has several causes. “One of the most important points is that we are not achieving the production we need for our budget. The medical care we provide has a certain return, but we are not going to provide the amount of care this year that we would have liked. This means, for example, that we are carrying out fewer operations than planned.”
According to her, this is partly due to the lack of in-house staff. As a result, people had to be hired from outside, which further increased costs. The hospital, like all sectors, also has to deal with high energy costs.
No layoffs
The spokesperson says that there will be no layoffs. “No, certainly not. We even hope to hire more staff. There will probably be a vacancy freeze in the non-medical departments.” According to her, the care for patients is also not at risk.
There was also a shortage last year, but it was not alarming at the time. According to the spokesperson, there is no panic now, but action must be taken to prevent next year’s budget from being completely out of line and payment obligations no longer being able to be met. There is also no fear that the hospital will have to close. According to Gutteling, all parties involved agree on this.
In practice, the supervision of the banks means that there is now a financial audit once every two months, while previously this was twice a year. According to Gutteling, the banks are satisfied with the plan for the cuts.
Austerity measures
“There are three pillars,” the spokesperson explains. “We hope to be able to do something about the rate agreements with the insurers. We also have to work more efficiently, for example through more cooperation between departments. And then ultimately production will have to increase. We also hope to receive some low-complexity care from our alliance partner Amsterdam for this. to be able to take over UMC.”
The measures must come into effect on January 1, 2024 and the cutbacks must be completed by the end of 2026.
2023-10-09 20:31:37
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