Peterborough and Cambridgeshire health body on course to wipe out £35m deficit

At a public meeting held his week (Tuesday), the board of directors heard that much had improved with the instruction of new and experienced senior personnel, as well an Assurance Framework and Risk Register.

Jan Thomas, chief officer of the CCG, said: “We are responsible for the care the public receives at hospital and in the community, and we have to ensure delivery of the best possible service and treatment for patients. So it is vital that we are seen to be performing within strict guidelines.

“The newly instigated Assurance Framework and Risk Register sets out the organisational risks that could potentially have an impact on the CCG and its ability to deliver its statutory duties, strategic aims and corporate objectives.

“As a ‘live’ document, it is regularly updated so that the board of governors can monitor CCG performance almost in real time, with genuine controls in place to mitigate risks.”

Louis Kamfer, chief financial officer at the CCG, went on to report the latest financial expectations for the remainder of the 2018/19 financial year.

He said: “While we are only at month eight in our calendar, I am happy to report confidently to the board that the CCG’s annual control target of a £35.1 million deficit, as agreed with NHS England (NHSE), is on track to be achieved; which means that this sum will not be carried forward into 2019/20.

“As of November 2018, the actual deficit stands at £24.3 million. That said, this is £0.907 million adverse to the control plan – which is disappointing – but this is mostly due to increases in acute mental health spending, and bulk purchasing of high value drugs by GPs worried about Brexit.”

Ms Thomas told the board members: “On December 21, 2018, NHSE published their ‘Overall Planning & Contracting Guidance’ for all CCGs, with strict overviews to control how we use our financial resources to meet the needs of the population of Cambridgeshire and Peterborough in 2019/20, and how that will be delivered.

“As you know the Government announced a new 10 year plan for the NHS this week which I believe is a really exciting, if challenging, document setting targets for all of us to achieve. It means there must be as much of a commitment to prevention as there is to cure, and we have to find proactive ways to deal with the increases in NHS demand, not only in 10 years’ time, but right now as we barely cope at the moment.

“There are a lot of challenges that we all have to live up to, but I think we can meet those expectations if we all work together as one, for a common goal of bringing the best health care service to the people of our area.”

Robert Alexander, Local Democracy Reporting Service