NHS body has one month to draw up financial plan

An NHS body which is millions of pounds in debt has until the end of February to draw up an action plan to tackle its financial problems.

A meeting of the NHS Shropshire, Telford and Wrekin Integrated Care Board, which commissions healthcare, was told the situation was "bleak".

Dave Bennett, who chairs its finance committee, said it is on track for a deficit of between £20m and £30m at the end of the financial year.

Chief finance officer, Claire Skidmore, told the meeting harder decisions would be needed, which could mean "taking money out" of some services and "putting it into something else".

The board is responsible for planning and buying a wide range of health and care services for the whole of Shropshire, Telford and Wrekin.

The meeting heard that a plan had to be presented to the government before the start of March.

It was also told by Mr Bennett the deficit would have breached £100m if the organisation had not received recent extra funding of £89m from the government.

He used the word "bleak" and said it would be "extremely challenging" for the organisation to break even over the next two years, suggesting yearly savings of 9% might be necessary.

Mr Bennett said it was now "moving into the realm of having to make difficult decisions".

Jo Williams, acting chief executive of Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital Trust, said she had written to all staff to explain new ways of working may be needed.

But she warned talk of efficiencies "breeds fear" and they had to be "careful with the messages".

This news was gathered by the Local Democracy Reporting Service which covers councils and other public service organisations.

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