Shropshire health commissioning groups on target to merge
Shropshire's two health commissioning groups are on track to merge early next year.
Shropshire Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) and its Telford counterpart are due to merge on April 1, 2020 - subject to agreement by NHS England.
Accountable officer David Stout said while there is still a lot of paperwork to submit, he is confident it will happen on time.
The decision to merge the two CCGs was made after they were told to save £1.2 million between them this year.
Chairman of Shropshire CCG, Julian Povey, said it is a misconception that money will be cut from services.
He assured that the 20 per cent reduction would come solely from 'running costs'.
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Accountable officer, David Stout, also addressed concerns about the merger which has caused controversy across parts of the county, especially in Telford where the CCG has a balanced budget.
Earlier this year Derek White, of Telford & Wrekin Council, said he feared Telford would 'absorb' Shropshire's debts.
Mr Stout said: "The elected politicians are right to have their views as they work on behalf of their constituents.
"But the amount of money allocated is set by a national formula and the allocations will not change by bringing the CCGs together.
"I know they are worried about our deficit in Shropshire but it is not a threat to services. We don't actually have radically different financial positions."
