Telford health group could end year in nearly £13 million of debt

Halfway through 2019/20 Telford & Wrekin Clinical Commissioning Group was showing a deficit of £5.7 million and could end the financial year in £12.8m of debt.

The figures were included in a new report to the CCG's governance board, which met on Tuesday, and show the group's financial position has worsened.

Jon Cooke, chief finance officer at Telford & Wrekin CCG, said the group was being scrutinised by its regulators over its financial position, and had also been holding meetings with healthcare providers.

He told the meeting that regulators had fed back that the CCG was doing all it could to manage its finances and its processes are appropriate.

Mr Cooke said areas such as the national pricing of drugs were beyond the group's control but still affected its performance, adding: "This year it has given us an additional pressure."

The finance report showed the CCG's position in September and are the latest figures available.

Activity

The report to the board said: "Overspends continue in the areas of acute and individual commissioning but this month we have also seen a significant deterioration in the prescribing position with a forecast over spend of £333k representing a deterioration of £688k from month five."

It says elective activity has continued to increase and ambulance conveyances are also above contract.

The report continues: "Unmitigated risk of £12.8 million is now reported although as we work through the opportunities we would expect to see some further mitigations included to reduce this figure.

"Further opportunities to be considered include the further reduction of elective activity through the better management of waiting lists, acceleration of community based schemes to reduce non elective admissions and the development of primary care urgent access clinics to manage hospital demand.

"In addition, we are also considering where provision of services can be restricted.

"However, at this stage it is unlikely that sufficient mitigations will be identified to offset the identified risk and as such there is significant risk to the delivery of the CCG control total.

"We are working closely with Shropshire CCG and the system providers across the financial pressures to ensure that there is alignment of assumptions and impact across the patch."

It says the group will continue to review its position and pursue options for reducing costs.