Issue - meetings

Report attached.

Alan Steward

13.35

It was noted that the three local CCGs had a combined £55 million deficit and were under legal direction to address this with £35 million of savings to be found jointly between BHRUT and the CCGs. The reduction of the backlog in referrals to treatment would help with the financial deficit and the CCGs also had a financial recovery plan.

Some £44 million of savings had been found thus far with £32.9 million of this identified by the CCGs and work would continue to close the remaining gap. Savings schemes were reviewed every two weeks and £4.2 million of savings had been delivered up to the end of 2016/17.

Savings could be derived from planned work where a lot of referrals from primary care could be treated in other facilities than Queen’s Hospital. Redirection schemes could also be used for urgent care and, in children’s services, appropriate assurances could often be given to parents via their GP.

It was planned to maximise use of estates in order to reduce void charges. Any large moves of clinics or GP surgeries would be engaged on and brought to the Board. All contracts would be reviewed in order to ensure that they provided value for money and opportunities such as managing respiratory cases in the community were also being investigated. Corporate spending was also being reviewed in areas such as car parking and the use of agency staff.

Meetings were being held with providers in order to identify savings and a referral management service would decide if patients could be better seen outside of hospital. Efforts would be made to better manage incidences of pressure ulcers which could result in a significant financial saving. A system-wide discharge programme was also under development in order to reduce the length of time people stayed in hospital. The CCG was required to consult on any measures that would have a significant impact on patients or residents.

The contract for Harold Wood Clinic was monitored and reports of people being regularly turned away would be investigated by the CCG if details could be provided and feedback given to the Board. More details could also be provided to the Board re the cost of treating pressure ulcers.

Medicines management would also be reviewed as cheaper generic drugs could often be used, if clinicians agreed, with for example much cheaper generic cholesterol tablets giving the same outcome as a branded drug. It was noted however that doctors should be mindful of prescription variations as some generic alternatives may not be the same as branded drugs.

The Board noted current delivery against the System Delivery Framework.