HEALTH bosses intend to cut £50 million from NHS services in the York area over the next four years, as the city faces a mounting funding crisis.

Six areas have been targeted for spending cuts by 2020/21 by the Vale of York CCG, which covers an area including York, Selby, Tadcaster, Easingwold and parts of East Yorkshire including Pocklington.

Locally the financial deficit is expected to reach £24.1m in 2016/17, a gap which is set to grow to £45.5m in 2017/18.

A report by Vale of York Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) identified areas of “immediate financial opportunity”, by making cuts in areas labeled:

  • elective orthopaedics
  • out of hospital
  • outpatients
  • continuing healthcare
  • prescribing
  • high-cost drugs

However, while five of the six areas have the potential to deliver savings from 2016/17, according to the report, the CCG said specific details about how the cuts would be made in each area were currently being worked out and could not be shared publicly.

Campaigners have expressed deep concerns about the impact of the cuts on healthcare in the city.

Glenn Turp, Regional Director for the Royal College of Nursing in Yorkshire and the Humber said: “The scale of change described in the plans just cannot be delivered with the current funding levels provided to the NHS. It’s really difficult to see how integration plans will be achievable without enough nurses.

"The importance of having enough skilled nurses in the NHS cannot be overstated. Yet education budgets for continued professional development have been drastically reduced, compromising the capacity to train and prepare nursing staff for new ways of working."

The Vale of York receives the lowest funding per head of the population across the region, a spokesperson for Vale of York CCG said.

They said ways to save money included the development of a musculoskeletal ‘web hub’ for GPs and patients, care closer to home and “reduced need for patients to attend hospital appointments unless clinically necessary” as well as reducing medicine waste.

A spokesperson said: “The CCG’s strategic financial plan addresses the underlying causes of the local financial deficit and pins down activities that lead to a more sustainable position.

York Press:

“The CCG is working closely with its partner organisations to deliver financial recovery and work to deliver an improved position over the next four years continues.”

The six areas have been identified by the CCG - which has an annual commissioning budget of £435.6 million - as areas where savings could be made as they are deemed to be spending above the national average.

A report about the plans will be presented to NHS bosses at the city council’s health and wellbeing board on Wednesday.

Vale of York CCG is classed as being in special measures because of its financial problems.

By making the savings, the CCG says it will reach in-year surplus by 2019/20 although a cumulative financial deficit of approximately £24 million at 2020/21 would still remain, the report states.

Meanwhile, a number of other areas where funding could be cut - described as “pipeline opportunity areas” - have also been identified, but these are at an early planning stage, the report says.

Mick Phythian, of Defend Our NHS York, said they believe the NHS funding crisis is part of a long term government plan to privatise the NHS.

He said identification of where cuts should fall in York is overly simplistic and gives no consideration to the context of the city and its population. He said: “They are finding ways of doing it that are spurious. It’s appalling.”

The cuts are being made in connection with Sustainability and Transformation Plans (STPs) currently being produced in 44 areas of England to redesign NHS services.

York and Ryedale are included in the Humber Coast and Vale area, which also takes in Hull. The area has a population of 1.4 million people, of whom 23 per cent live in some of England’s most deprived areas.

The Humber Coast and Vale area is required by government to find savings to plug a £420 million funding gap.

Mr Turp said: "The Government needs to recognise the extra investment needed by local health leaders and provide the funding to guarantee a truly 21st century health service.

"It also needs to reassure staff and patients alike that STPs aren’t simply for driving forward cuts to services and costs.”