East Surrey clinical commissioning group (CCG) has given NHS England their plans for financial recovery and significant work is underway, a spokesperson clarified.
East Surrey clinical commissioning group (CCG) has given NHS England their plans for financial recovery and significant work is underway, a spokesperson clarified.
This comes after The Commissioning Review discovered last week that it had been placed under legal directions, as it has not maintained financial balance, partly as it was burdened with an inherited primary care trust debt of £5.9 million.
Dr Patrick Kerr, assistant clinical chair at the CCG, said: “East Surrey CCG appreciates this acknowledgement by NHS England of the very significant challenges we face. We have delivered to NHS England ambitious plans for our financial recovery and we have undertaken significant work to increase the organisation’s capacity and strengthen our ability to deliver.
The CCG is in the top 20% for clinical quality outcomes and the best in the country for reducing the amount of time people unnecessarily spend in hospital, Kerr explained, but has “faced significant financial challenges since our inception”.
The former chair of the CCG Joe McGilligan put the failure to control finances down to the inherited debt, the costly success of the local hospital, and the “unfair” funding formula which looks at deprivation rather than the cost associated with an elderly population when calculating CCG allocations.
Kerr added: “We would like to acknowledge the strenuous efforts made by our member practices and our central team to deliver these outcomes in challenged circumstances.
“We can only deliver financial recovery with significant transformation of local health services, which cannot be done in isolation. This absolutely requires collaborative working with our neighbouring commissioners and acute, community and social care providers, as well as with NHS England,” he said.
