The trust that runs Bridlington Hospital is holding £9m of supplier bills and expects an answer on £8m of cash support by 6 November.

The NHS trust that runs Bridlington Hospital has applied for £8m of cash support and expects an answer by Friday. Its October board papers show it held back £9m of payments to suppliers to get through the end of September.

York and Scarborough Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust ended September with £3.9m in the bank. The finance director’s report says that balance was “supported by holding £9.0m of supplier payments”. The month before, it held £4m. (Board of Directors papers, 28 October 2026, pages 251 and 266)

The board approved the application in September. It has gone to NHS England’s regional team and will move to the national team. An outcome is expected “on or before 6th November”.

How far off plan is it?

The trust agreed a deficit of £18.5m for 2026/27 with NHS England. Hitting that, and earning the same amount in deficit support funding, would let it break even.

At the half-year point it is well behind:

  • Deficit so far: £18.4m, against £9.2m planned
  • Savings programme: £24.7m delivered to date, £7.0m behind target
  • Bank staff spending: £18.7m, against a £12.9m plan
  • Deficit support funding: £4.6m confirmed so far, for the first quarter only

The support funding is conditional. The report says it “must be earned through delivery of the agreed plan”.

Bar chart of four year-end deficit figures for York and Scarborough Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust in 2026/27: £18.5m agreed plan, £26.1m NHS England mid-case, £30.5m trust mid-range, £45.5m trust worst case.
Chart by East Riding Today. Source: trust board papers, 28 October 2026.
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The worst case of £45.5m assumes the current run rate simply carries on, with no further savings and no extra income for treating more patients than planned. The trust’s own mid-range forecast is £30.5m. NHS England’s model puts the middle of the range at £26.1m. (Forecast scenarios, page 256)

The trust’s Resources Committee flagged delivery of the plan and receipt of the full funding as “at risk”. It said savings plans now exist for the full year, though around £8m of them are high risk.

Who feels it first?

Suppliers do. The NHS target is to pay 95% of suppliers within 30 days. In September the trust managed 62%, and its report says the figure “is expected to decline further without cash support”.

The minutes of the September board record the finance team chasing debtors and negotiating longer payment terms with suppliers. The local NHS integrated care board had already agreed £3m of cash support. (September minutes, page 16 of the pack)

The report does not say what happens if the £8m is refused. It says only that the trust expects to manage the cash pressure “until November”.

What does it mean for Bridlington?

Nothing in the finance report names Bridlington Hospital or proposes closing a service. Bridlington comes up elsewhere in the 400-page pack, and some of it is good news:

  • Patients having surgery at Bridlington are “very complimentary of their surgical pathway and care”
  • A children’s surgical list has started there and is planned every eight weeks
  • Bridlington’s urgent treatment centre now counts towards the trust’s A&E four-hour figure, which was 65.2% in September against a 75.8% target

Waiting lists are moving the wrong way. The provisional list reached 58,696 at the end of September, up from 56,421 in June. Patients waiting more than a year rose from 1,137 to 1,303.

The board also had a new clinical services strategy for approval on 28 October. It admits that many outpatient appointments for Scarborough and Bridlington residents happen at York, and calls that “far from ideal”. It promises to “design out avoidable travel to York for coastal and rural communities”. It also says it does not decide the outcome of any future service change.

What it means for you

  • Keep your appointments. We found nothing in these papers that changes any appointment at Bridlington Hospital.
  • If you are waiting. NHS England wants anyone waiting more than 18 weeks for a first outpatient appointment to be offered one by 30 November. The trust is running a seven-week project to do that.
  • If you supply the trust. Expect slower payment until the cash position is settled.
  • If you want to follow it. The board next meets in public on 25 November at Scarborough, and its papers are published on the trust’s website.

This comes after the same trust’s decision to close the Bridlington Care Unit. We will report the outcome of the £8m application when the trust publishes it.