Press release
NHS Bury announce plans to restore financial balance
NHS Bury is planning a range of measures aimed at restoring financial balance.
Demand for NHS services in Bury continues to rise and as the local commissioner of health services, NHS Bury is currently spending in the region of £1.3m more than the £25.8m it receives in income each month. This situation cannot be allowed to continue and as a result, the NHS Bury Board will consider a programme of corrective measures at its meeting on September 15th.
A range of heightened efficiency measures aimed at cutting management costs within the organisation is being proposed as follows;
- To release around £0.70m by the end of current financial year in management costs. It is anticipated that 40 non clinical posts which are currently vacant will be reviewed and only replaced in the minority of cases.
- £350,000 that was set aside for GPs as an incentive payment, will not be released.
- A further savings target of 3% will be applied to all internal management budgets immediately and will be increased by a further 3% next year.
A range of service related changes are also being put forward including;
- To reduce the number of referrals made by GP practices to secondary care and to cease unnecessary follow up appointments at hospital outpatients.
- Temporarily suspending the commissioning of a number of discretionary procedures, such as IVF, homeopathy, varicose vein surgery, cosmetic surgery.
- Increasing access for patients to be treated for minor illness and injuries in the community, rather than in the hospital.
The above schemes, together with initiatives that are already in progress, will deliver recurrent annual savings of £16.2m.
Paul Horrocks, Chair of NHS Bury commented; “It is vitally important that we take swift and decisive action to address our current financial problems. The Board will carefully consider the proposed measures at our meeting on 15th September but we are clear that the current situation is unsustainable and cannot be allowed to continue.”
“As the Chair of NHS Bury, a key priority for me and the rest of the Board is to ensure we remain focussed on our local health priorities. Part of the process to achieve this is to ensure that every penny available to us is invested wisely and that our books are balanced as we prepare to hand over responsibility for healthcare commissioning to local GPs.”
John Boyington CBE, Chief Executive of NHS Bury stated; “We have been working on a range of remedial actions to tackle our financial position for some months. Whilst these have delivered considerable benefit, we are still spending in the region of £1.3m per month more than we are receiving in income, a position which cannot continue.”
“NHS Bury has a statutory obligation to meet the health needs of the local population whilst remaining in financial balance. To allow this to happen, we need to take these actions that will stem the flow of patients into the system, when this is not required and also for as much waste to be taken out of the system as possible.”
“We also need the public of Bury to support us in making the best possible use of the NHS by using services wisely. We will be launching a campaign to strengthen these messages - Don’t go to A and E or phone an ambulance unless it’s a true emergency. Don’t waste medicines or miss appointments. Use our GP and Nurse walk in service if you have a medical problem that can’t wait for a routine GP appointment.”
Dr Jerry Martin, Chair of the Commissioning Board at NHS Bury said; “The Commissioning Board brings together GPs, Dentists, Pharmacists and local hospital doctors, together with senior management in the NHS and Council. The Board acknowledges the need for difficult decisions this year to manage NHS spending in Bury. We recognise the pressures and importance of working together over the short and medium term to address the deficit.”
Dr Rak Thaker, Chair of the Practice Based Commissioning Group said;
“This is clearly a less than ideal situation. We recognise however that action needs to be taken now to deal with the on-going financial problems and we will work closely with colleagues and the public to try to minimise the impact wherever we can.”
Mr Boyington continued;
“The NHS Bury Board will continue to monitor the effectiveness of the new measures at its’ monthly meetings. We hope that the impact of the measures will be felt immediately and allow us to recover our position to the tune of £16.2m by the end of March 2011.”
ENDS
Date: 9 September 2010
FOR PRESS & MEDIA ENQUIRIES: contact Caroline Dearden, Corporate Communications Manager on 0161 762 3106 or email communications@bury.nhs.uk