Scenario You are the Nurse Manager of a 32 bed general surgical ward in a metropolitan hospital in a major city. As a result of a restructuring of the hospital networks in the local Area Health Service you have been asked to combine the 32 general surgical ward with a new 12 bed, short stay surgical ward which has been built adjacent to your ward. Developing a cost centre budget 1) Discuss the benefits of having the Nurse Manager develop a cost centre budget for a specific area of responsibility. 2) Flexible, zero-based and historical-based budgeting are three alternative budgeting methods that could be adopted by the Nurse Manager to develop a budget plan for this new combined service. Which method would you consider most appropriate and why? Your answer should compare and contrast the different methodologies and include discussion of the merits, weaknesses and applications of each model. 3) In the context of developing a cost centre expenditure budget: Provide an outline the three main areas of expenditure (line items) that will be considered for the expenditure budget and give examples of the issues to be considered for each area of expenditure prior to starting calculations. 4) Identify and discuss the cost centre reports generated within your organisation that will be used to provide a baseline for the budget calculations.
