NHS chiefs seek end to ‘vicious cycle’ of cutbacks

Regional health bosses want to put an end to a “vicious cycle” of unplanned cuts which have become routine in an annual battle to balance budgets in the area.

NHS Yorkshire and Humber, the strategic health authority (SHA), is likely to be called upon again this year to bail out North Yorkshire and York Primary Care Trust after it plunged into deficit once more, forcing a series of sudden cuts including stopping new patients undergoing IVF treatment and axing minor surgery at GP clinics.

With PCTs soon to be abolished under the Government’s plans to put more of the NHS budget in the hands of GPs, there is pressure to sort out the problems before the overhaul takes place otherwise GPs will be left to deal with severe financial pressures when they take over.

Now the Yorkshire Post can reveal that NHS Yorkshire and Humber is commissioning an independent review to examine why there are enduring problems with England’s largest primary care trust. It is expected to be headed by a senior clinician and completed by the end of May.

The review has been welcomed by some, although last night one MP questioned how much it was costing and warned the report must not be carried out then simply left “sitting on the shelf”.

In a letter, Bill McCarthy, chief executive of NHS Yorkshire and Humber, says the review is necessary to “get out of the vicious cycle of unplanned and hastily communicated actions which over many years have become a regular feature of efforts to balance NHS budgets in the area”.

He also says it should report on whether NHS funding in the areas is “being spent in a way which maximises outcomes for patients and communities; and value to the taxpayer”.

Mr McCarthy admits the issues are “complex and sensitive” and warns that any changes it recommends would need the support of GP leaders and the public.

A fresh budget crisis this year – in which the PCT, which has a budget of £1.3bn, is on course to overspend by £16.6m – brought a rash of fresh money-saving measures including no new patients being offered IVF “test tube baby” treatment, minor surgery at GP clinics being stopped, non-urgent hospital treatment delayed, cuts to voluntary sector groups and 60 managers being made redundant.

The review is likely to consider whether claims that the health service in North Yorkshire and York is underfunded – with doctors saying it receives 12.5 per cent less funding per head than the average in Yorkshire – are justified and a factor in the problems.

Although final details are still being sorted, it could examine further moves to consolidate some hospital services in smaller numbers of centres – a politically explosive issue if it led to questions over the future of smaller hospitals.

Anne McIntosh, the Tory MP for Thirsk and Malton, has been a critic of “financial incompetence” at the PCT, highlighting the spending of £1m refurbishing Ryedale ward at Malton Hospital, only for it to close six months later.

She welcomed the review, adding: “We need an end to the short-termism and having to pay off the annual deficits the PCT seem to have run up.”

But Julian Smith, Tory MP for Skipton and Ripon, said: “The danger with reports is that they are started with good intentions but can end up sitting on the shelf.”

The review will be funded by the SHA, which declined to reveal how much it would cost because details are still being worked out.