DOCTORS in Redditch and Bromsgrove will receive less than £300,000 of a much trumpeted £2billion cash injection into the health service.
NHS England announced in November the Government was making the money available to support their five year vision to begin transforming the way services are delivered. Figures released by the organisation showed from April Redditch and Bromsgrove Clinical Commissioning Group would see its budget rise by £4.3million.
But analysis of the extra funding has revealed much of the cash has either already been allocated or must be spent in a certain way.
Of the £4.3million, about £3million was old money announced in December 2013 as part of a two year funding settlement and had already been factored into the CCG’s budget for 2015/16.
The remaining £1.3million includes £993,000 of winter pressures money, used to support schemes to help the local health service cope during the colder months and which has already been committed.
That leaves just £282,000 to spend on new projects to improve the healthcare of the 170,000 plus patients the CCG cares for.
Paul Sheldon, chief financial officer for the CCG, told a governing body meeting last Thursday (January 22): “We have spent a lot of money on winter schemes this year and the ideal would be to see those continue in some form so it’s just a regurgitation of funding we have had, so it’s not new money.
“So of the £2billion, we have less than £300,000 to do something different with. On a budget of £187million it’s neither here nor there really so it’s slightly disappointing.”
With three months of the financial year remaining the CCG is continuing to forecast it will deliver a £1.87million surplus at the end of March but only with more than £4.1million of money from contingency funds.
However the position is increasingly fragile given the contract with Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust is due to overspend by more than £2.5million while the drugs budget is set to be blown by £595,000.
A report to the governing body warned the CCG’s financial position ‘cannot accommodate any further overspends’.
