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Peterborough NHS providers project £100m deficit
Stewart Jackson, MP for Peterborough. Photo: Peterborough ET
MATERNITY services and GP surgeries in Peterborough are being targeted by health bosses in a new drive to stop medical care plunging into a £100 million cash crisis.
Emergency plans to find drastic savings and efficiencies in a range of care services are being thrashed out by health groups.
A report put together on behalf of the five health providers in the city has revealed a grim financial projection that says there will be a £100.34 million deficit in the NHS by March 2015 caused by rising demand, costs, inflation and debt repayments.
In response, the health bodies, which include NHS Peterborough, Peterborough and Stamford Hospitals Trust and Cambridgeshire Community Services NHS Trust, has set a target of saving £128 million between them through separate Quality, Innovation, Productivity and Prevention (QIPP) plans.
An NHS Peterborough spokeswoman said: “Whilst the NHS is protected by the Government, funding is not able to keep up.
“If we do nothing differently and the demand for services continues to grow at the same rate as recent years then the health and social care system across Peterborough will have a financial gap.
“If we want to improve our financial situation, meet the health needs of the population and improve the quality of services at the same time, we can only do this by working together to improve the efficiency of services.”
The QIPP and Reform Plan put together by NHS Peterborough has identified that savings, efficiencies and improvements will have to be made in several areas, including hospital care, maternity services, mental health care and doctors’ surgeries.
The hospitals trust has already got its QIPP plan in place, but has fallen behind its savings targets for this year and is the city health body running up the biggest deficits, which is projected to be more than £30 million by the end of this March alone.
In terms of saving £128 million, the supposed solution for non-hospital providers is to carry out more community care to reduce the need for expensive hospital treatment.
Other aims include the general improvement of health in the city, by driving forward programmes aimed at reducing teenage pregnancy, sexual health, childhood obesity and smoking.
But while non-hospital providers will look to reduce local hospital visits, the city’s hospitals trust is hoping to bring in more patients from outside the Peterborough are to solve its cashflow problems.
A trust spokeswoman said: “The trust supports the wider health economy plan to treat more local patients in community settings, where appropriate, with hospitals focusing on emergencies and acute care.
“We want to be the provider for acute services in those rural areas outside of Greater Peterborough where often there may be more than one hospital within a reasonable distance.
“We are working with GP surgeries further afield in a bid to develop this further.”
Peterborough City Council, which is taking back responsibility for adult social care from April, has already identified the gap between funding and demand by plunging an extra £10 million into its budget for 2012/13.
City MP Stewart Jackson said the Private Finance Initiative (PFI) used to pay for Peterborough City Hospital, The Cavell Centre and the City Care Centre will be the most important issue in solving the health funding crisis the city faces.
He added: “It is the key to solving this problem as the interest payments are not sustainable even in the medium-term.”
Who are city NHS providers?
NHS PETERBOROUGH: Responsible for primary care, providing doctor’s surgeries, dentists, commissioning hospital services and the city’s public health.
PETERBOROUGH CITY COUNCIL: Due to take back responsibility for adult social care in April, as well as having its own public health responsibilities.
CAMBRIDGESHIRE COMMUNITY SERVICES NHS TRUST: Provides a range of health and social care services and services for the disabled, carried out on behalf of city council as of April, on behalf of NHS Peterborough currently.
CAMBRIDGESHIRE AND PETERBOROUGH NHS FOUNDATION TRUST: The city’s mental healthcare provider, runs the Cavell Centre and other sites in Peterborough and Cambridgeshire.
PETERBOROUGH AND STAMFORD HOSPITALS NHS FOUNDATION TRUST: The city’s hospital provider, runs Peterborough City Hospital.
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Saturday 26 May 2012
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