Big drop in Peterborough bed-blocking, but financial picture for health services a big concern

According to a report to be debated by members of the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Health and Wellbeing Board Core Joint Sub-Committee on Friday, the number of delayed transfers of care (DTOCs) has reduced in the city by 41 per cent in the year up to March 2020.

The overall total was 3,674 against a target of 5,360. The previous year’s figure was 6,394.

The picture was slightly less positive for Cambridgeshire despite a 13 per cent year-on-year reduction.

The 12 month figure until the end of February was 25,854 compared to a target of 14,405.

But despite the improvements, the report highlights that: “Cambridgeshire and Peterborough continues to be one of the most financially challenged health economies nationally with significant financial challenges for both the CCG (clinical commissioning group) and local authority.

“Both the local authority and the CCG receive comparatively less funding than our neighbouring counterparts.”

The number of adults in Cambridgeshire in Peterborough is expected to grow from an estimated 690,000 at present to approximately 827,000 by 2036 - a 20 per cent increase.

The number of residents aged 65 to 84 is also expected to increase by around 44 per cent, and those aged 85 or older by nearly 130 per cent, by 2036.

The report adds: “We are seeing additional financial pressures as a result of population growth and increasing costs of care, meaning we have to address increased demand with decreasing budgets.

“Financial challenges have been further exacerbated by the impacts of Covid and, despite additional government funding for both the NHS and the local authority which is welcome, it is still insufficient to address the system financial challenges we are experiencing.”

In 2018, the Peterborough Telegraph revealed that the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) - which commissions health services in the county - receives the fourth lowest amount of funding per person out of all 207 CCGs in England.

The CCG said that if it received the same rate of funding as the national average, it would have had an additional £30.3 million a year to spend on services in the 2017/18 financial year.

Last September, the CCG, which was running a pre-Covid deficit of £75 million and had been criticised for cutting services including IVF, created ‘The Big Conversation’.

This was a huge consultation which is said was needed as “difficult decisions” will need to be made in the future, and it wanted to understand what was most important to the local community.

The consultation showed that 88 per cent of respondents were in favour of turning people away from A&E if the health issue was not deemed to be a genuine emergency, while 79 per cent were in favour of using technology such as phone appointments or live chats to access medical advice quicker, rather than wait for a face-to-face appointment.