PATIENTS aren’t treated quickly enough and Taunton’s Musgrove Park Hospital looks like overshooting its budget by £5million, it has emerged.

The health sector regulator has intervened and is confident it can help cut waiting times, although it is now helping bosses sort out its finances.

A spokesman for Monitor, which protects and promotes patients’ interests, said people can now be expected to be treated faster despite deteriorating finances.

He said Monitor has worked with Taunton and Somerset NHS Foundation Trust, which runs Musgrove, “to develop robust plans to reduce waiting times without the need for regulatory action”.

He added: “However, the regulator now has concerns over the trust’s financial position.

“Therefore, Monitor is turning its investigation away from waiting times and instead examining the trust’s finances.”

Paul Streat, Monitor’s regional director, said: “It’s good news for patients and the hospital that these (waiting time) problems are now being tackled without the need for regulatory action.

“But we now need to find out why the trust’s financial position is worsening, for example if there is a link to their efforts to tackle waiting times.

“We’ll continue working with the trust to identify what it could do to improve its finances for patients in Somerset.”

A Musgrove spokeswoman said the trust decided in October 2013 to deliberately miss its 18-week referral to treatment target so it could ensure patients were treated “first in order of medical priority and then by length of wait”.

She added: “Due to problems finding the capacity to treat the number of patients needed, and significant rises in demand in some specialties, such as dermatology, its recovery has been slower than anticipated.

“However, the trust now believes that, by working closely with Monitor, it has a robust plan in place to get back on track later this year and it is thankful for the help Monitor has provided.”

The spokeswoman said it welcomes Monitor’s decision to inspect its finances more closely as it faces “a tough financial year”.

She said Musgrove has a long history of “strong financial management”, but is now up against “increasing demand and rising quality care and facilities”.

She added: “In 2014/15 through prudent financial management the trust managed to end the year with a small surplus.

“However, it has been clear for many months that that position would not be sustainable into 2015/16.

“It continues to work hard with colleagues across the organisation to look at its cost improvement plans to ensure they are realistic and deliverable, as well as with its Clinical Commissioning Group to work towards delivering the best financial performance it can this year.

“It is, however, still anticipating a budget deficit of around £5million.

“The trust recognises that healthcare needs to be delivered in new and different ways to support the communities it serves and will continue throughout the year to work across the health community in Somerset to look at ways it can continue to provide the best possible care for the population.”