Shropshire health groups merger ‘will save cash’
Merging the groups responsible for buying health services in the county will bring benefits and help save resources, a health boss has said.
Plans to combine Shropshire and Telford & Wrekin Clinical Commissioning groups will be discussed at a meeting today.
David Stout, accountable officer for Shropshire CCG, says there is a requirement for CCGs to reduce running costs by 20 per cent.
But the prospect has split opinion among politicians in the county.
Telford MP Lucy Allan has warned that a merger would risk aggravating health inequalities in the town she represents, while Shrewsbury & Atcham MP Daniel Kawczynski has hailed the benefits of the proposal and called for other services, such as the county's two unitary authorities, to combine.
Shropshire CCG is also in debt, unlike Telford, and the group was placed in special measures in 2015 because of a multimillion-pound deficit.
Mr Stout says the proposal will help save resources, adding: "It will make our financial situation better than it would otherwise be."
He said it also had the ability to lessen any impact on frontline services.
He added: "On top of that we have a history of working together reasonably closely.
Dissolve
"I don't think having a single CCG means we can't take account of local differences."
The proposal was approved by Shropshire CCC's governing board today. Telford & Wrekin CCG's board will consider it next week.
Members at both meetings were being asked to “consider and agree a proposal to dissolve the two existing CCGs and create one new organisation”.
If approved then a request to continue the process will be submitted to NHS England by September 30, with a completion date set for April 1, next year.
There have been no guarantees given over whether there would be redundancies as a result of the merger, or whether the organisations will keep their current premises or combine at one site.
Currently the Telford organisation is based at Halesfield in Telford, and the Shropshire group at William Farr House in Shrewsbury.
A report to Shropshire CCG's governing body shows the organisation is expecting to achieve a deficit of £23.8m for 2019/20.
It ended the last financial year with a deficit of £17.1m.
A review has also been carried out in a bid to find out why there has been a higher than expected increase in ambulance demand within the county over the past year.
It was led by the CCG and included input by other local health organisations and national health regulators.
