Telford NHS group set to break even - despite debts in rest of Shropshire

The latest financial position for Telford & Wrekin Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) is revealed in papers ahead of a board meeting in the town on Tuesday.

The report says: "Our year to date position is currently in line with plan.

"At month six there is a £19,000 surplus against available resources. Our year end forecast is in line with break even plan. We are currently on target to achieve a break even position against available resources."

It comes as Shropshire Clinical Commissioning Group was placed into special measures after it forecast a £10.6 million deficit.

It means the Shropshire CCG will now receive help from external experts who will work with the senior management team to tackle the deficit.

It is the latest blow for the CCG in Shropshire in recent months. The Future Fit programme outlining the reorganisation of health services in the county has been put on hold, and the CCG's accountable officer Dr Caron Morton, one of the leading figures for the Future Fit programme, was placed on authorised leave in late September.

The CCG is the umbrella group that controls the NHS in Shropshire and decides where and how services are delivered. It lists "financial sustainability" among its five key aims.

The development in Shropshire has no impact on Telford & Wrekin CCG, which looks after health services in the east of the county.

In an interview last week Dr Julian Povey, clinical director of performance and contracting at Shropshire CCG, said patients would "hopefully not" see a difference in the care they receive in the county despite a raft of cost-cutting measures being announced to tackle the deficit.

He said the deficit had come about because borrowing had under-pinned the previous year's £3.6 million surplus which had been needed to be paid back earlier than anticipated.

The Telford CCG board meeting takes place at 1.30pm at the Whitehouse Hotel near Wellington.

Members of the public are welcome to attend.