BOSSES at Colchester General Hospital must save £14million next year – the largest savings target they have been faced with.

To do this, there are a number of plans in place to try to limit the impact on patients.

For a second year, the hospital will try to close Great Tey ward for seven to 12 months which it has said will save £1million.

Andrew Armour, Colchester’s hospital trust’s finance director, said: “We have been trying to close beds, as beds cost us money.

“Because we had a lot of activity in the winter, we couldn’t close those beds and it evened itself out because we got paid for that extra activity.

“We will be trying that again this year and reducing the length of stay and seeing more patients as day cases, so they don’t need a bed.”

The hospital will have the chance to recoup some extra cash through performance-related targets, such as assessing people for their risk of developing deadly blood clots, checking their drinking habits and reducing the number of falls on wards.

Last year, it gained £1.7million out of a possible £2.8million in performance-related pay.

However it missed out on more than £1million after it failed to refer more than 40,000 patients to stop smoking services and improve the experience of patients.

Hospital chiefs have also launched a pilot scheme to tackle staff sickness levels, which cost the hospital about £2million a year.

The plans, which include calling absent staff at home and back to work interviews, had reduced its sickness rate by 3 per cent in three months.

The hospital could also compete more with the private sector.

There are plans to introduce more 4D scanners, which produce 3D images of unborn babies, to bring in extra cash from paying patients who use private ultrasound firms.

Last week, the Gazette revealed services are due to move out of Essex County Hospital, in Lexden Road, after 2012, paving the way for the sale of the site which is valued at £13million. The money saved will not count towards this year’s budget.

The trust, which runs Colchester General Hospital and Essex County Hospital is set to get an extra £3million from primary care trust NHS North East Essex.

NHS North East Essex was awarded an extra five per cent in funding this year – the second highest increase in the country – to account for the area’s burgeoning population.

Mr Armour, added: “We are definitely better off than we thought we were going to be.

“We are slightly better than last year in terms of our income and we are a lot better than most acute trusts.

“In the context of a £225million budget, it’s small, but a lot of trusts are getting nothing.”

But much of the extra cash will be sucked up by the fact the hospital is getting paid less for each procedure it carries out under changes introduced by the Department for Health.

Meanwhile, the VAT the trust pays increased to 20 per cent in January, which will leave it £1million worse off this year.

And the amount hospitals are required to pay out to NHS Litigation Authority, which settles clinical negligence claims on their behalf, has increased by £700,000 this year.

The hospital trust faces financial penalties under plans announced by Health Secretary Andrew Lansley last year for patients who are readmitted within 30 days.

Looking to the future, a new committee headed up by senior staff has been tasked with finding other ways the trust could save cash.

Mr Armour said: “We know the challenge is bigger than before, which is why we have put more resources into it.

“It’s going to be a difficult year for everyone, but we are in a better position than most acute trusts because our primary care trust was awarded growth money.”