Hospital group threatened to stop paying for drugs

Scandal-hit company in financial trouble agreed to pay two directors bonuses.

- Rebecca Thomas and Alicja Hagopian

A scandal-hit private hospital group faced such a severe financial crisis that it threatened to stop paying for food, drugs and agency staff as bonuses worth hundreds of thousands of pounds were agreed for executives, The Independent can reveal.

Active Care Group, which provides hospital and care beds to hundreds of NHS and social care patients, warned it would not be able to care for people if new bank loans were not urgently secured.

The group’s CEO made the drastic warning to the banks as he tried to secure a loan to cover a debt of more than £100m. The hospital group was at the centre of a care scandal uncovered by The Independent last year, which forced it to close one of its children’s mental health hospitals.

A number of reports by this publication revealed allegations of “systemic abuse” of patients while several staff whistleblowers from children’s hospitals, run now by the group, alleged their units did not have enough workers to keep patients safe.

Despite facing financial ruin, The Independent has discovered there were proposals for four directors to take bonuses this year totalling £1m between them, emails seen by The Independent show. Active Care Group confirmed bonuses were agreed for two.

Campaigners called on the incoming government to put in place stricter financial regulations for private providers who supply care services to the NHS. Active Care Group was more than £100m in debt this year and in the last few months has been in crisis talks with lenders.