Rising inflation will see CCGs lose out on over £5 worth of services per patient by 2019/20, according to analysis by a CCG membership organisation.
According to figures from NHS Clinical Commissioners, CCGs will have effectively lost £5.72 worth of services per person by 2019/20 because of inflation, equating to a £330m loss nationally.
NHS England has previously committed to increasing CCG budgets by an average of 2% each year until 2019/20.
Rising inflation will see CCGs lose out on over £5 worth of services per patient by 2019/20, according to analysis by a CCG membership organisation.
According to figures from NHS Clinical Commissioners, CCGs will have effectively lost £5.72 worth of services per person by 2019/20 because of inflation, equating to a £330m loss nationally.
NHS England has previously committed to increasing CCG budgets by an average of 2% each year until 2019/20.
But the analysis shows that when inflation is applied the increase falls to 0.6% per year, and falls again to 0.48% if population growth is accounted for.
As a result the NHSCC has called for ring-fenced funding to help CCGs develop services needed to meet changing population needs.
This comes as a report from the Health Foundation found that despite promises from the Government to increase NHS funding by £8bn over five years, the health service will still face a £12bn deficit in 2020/21.
Andrew Pepper, chair of the NHSCC Finance Forum, said CCGs already face increasing demand from an aging population under tight budget constraints.
He said: ‘Nevertheless clinical commissioners are ready and willing to meet these challenges and transform healthcare for the better.
He added: ‘However, we know that this will not be enough to alleviate all the pressures on the NHS – to stop the difficult decisions clinical commissioners are making sliding into impossible choices, we need realism about what the NHS can deliver, support for local decision-making and ring-fenced funding for transformation.’
