Warning of growing pressure on NHS budgets

NHS England finance director Paul Baumann said around 25 per cent of clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) were facing financial problems, the Health Service Journal (HSJ) reported.

A number – including four main CCGs in North Yorkshire – have inherited multi-million pound deficits from previous years.

But further uncertainty has emerged over their budgets due to the reforms, with many losing millions in cash amid uncertainty over which part of the NHS is paying for some services, leaving most CCGs with less money than they expected.

The problems could be exacerbated due to increasing demands for expensive hospital care which have emerged in recent months and cuts in local authority spending on social care.

The HSJ reported that Mr Baumann told the Commissioning conference in London: “About a quarter of CCGs are having real difficulty making ends meet, with little or no reserves to fall back on.

“In quite a number of cases (there is) also a significant underlying deficit to deal with. There’s plenty of risk in that context that a number of them will tip into the red, if ambitious (efficiency) and activity reduction plans aren’t delivered, or if (there are) problems in the wider health economy for which they are responsible.”

A spokesman for NHS Clinical Commissioners, which represents CCGs, said it was “not a surprise” that some of the bodies were facing difficulties because they inherited financial problems. Others were still negotiating with NHS England about funding.

“A lot of CCGs have been set up in areas that have had a long history of issues and problems within the local health economy so they are inheriting problems,” the spokesman said. “It is not is surprise because they are still having to work out finalised funding allocations.”

The organisations – in charge of £65bn of spending – were set up under the Government’s controversial NHS revamp.