COUNCIL'S HEALTH SCRUTINY COMMITTEE AWAITS OUTCOME OF NHS FUNDING REPORT


In front of a public gallery packed with around 50 people calling for an independent review of Cornwall's health services, the Council's Health and Adult Social Care Overview and Scrutiny Committee today agreed to examine the findings of an imminent Market Forces report into NHS funding.


Today's meeting heard details of the cash crisis at Royal Cornwall Hospitals Trust and Plymouth Hospitals Trust, and their plans for financial recovery. RCHT detailed its programme to generate £8.7 million worth of savings, and Plymouth described an underlying deficit of £6 million and a savings programme of £25 million.

One issue is the blame levelled at a government formula which is said to leave westcountry hospitals out of pocket because it makes wrong assumptions about local wages. The so-called Market Forces Factor (MFF) assumes that it costs less to pay staff in rural areas, so funding from the Department of Health is downsized accordingly. But this formula's critics argue that most NHS staff are paid according to a nationally-agreed wage scale.

Across all sectors Cornwall's wage levels are about 25% below the national average, but with health staff paid on national pay scales it is claimed that the county's hospitals do not have lower wage bills and are therefore no cheaper to run. Now Cornwall is one of twelve areas of the country where the formula is under scrutiny, and initial findings of a report are due within weeks.

Today's meeting toyed with echoing calls for an independent inquiry into the county's NHS funding. But Members resolved to await the imminent findings of the Market Forces Report before deciding whether to highlight the issue with the Secretary of State.

New Chairman Mike Nicholls warned that the Health and Adult Social Care Overview and Scrutiny Committee had no powers to trigger such an inquiry, but many Members felt that local NHS funding issues had dragged on over years and it was time to take action.

The matter will come before the next meeting on 11 July, by which time it is expected the Market Forces Report can inform the debate.

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