Thursday 24 August 2017

Health body ranked as "inadequate" amid financial concerns


THE body in charge of overseeing Solihull's GP surgeries has been given four weeks to turn its performance around, amid concerns about a gaping hole in its finances.
Solihull Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) has been ranked "inadequate" overall, following an assessment of its performance in 2016/17 by officials at NHS England.
While some specific services performed well - cancer care was rated "outstanding" and mental health "good" - its overall ranking was rather poorer. The CCG has suggested that its "challenging financial position" was the reason for this.
In a statement last week, the organisation said it had been working on a plan to shore up its finances since the start of 2017. There has already been talk of Solihull CCG merging with Birmingham, with a view that pooling resources and expertise would make for a more efficient organisation.
Now however, NHS England has directly intervened and given the CCG four weeks [dating from August 17] to produce an effective plan to ensure it operates within its budget in this financial year.
Instructions have also been given to appoint a permanent chief finance officer, who will play a key role in ensuring that the books are balanced.
Solihull CCG said: "[We] will continue to work hard to deliver against our £18million savings target; we do not believe that this will adversely impact upon the current services being provided to patients.
"We are committed to putting in place a strong and detailed integration plan, working closely with our local authority and health partners in Solihull and Birmingham."
CCGs were introduced in 2013 as part of a controversial reorganisation of the NHS. The GP-led bodies were given substantial control over the budgets for providing services, which the Government said would improve quality of care and give more freedom to practitioners on the front-line.
But two years later, the King's Fund think tank was highly critical of the changes, arguing they had distracted from patient care and led to declining performance.

No comments:

Post a Comment