The Labour Group can reveal that a joint Council and NHS pooled budget to deliver health and social care in Stockport could be as much as £30 million lower than expected in 2016-17 due to legal obstacles affecting the arrangements.
Labour Group Deputy Leader Councillor Wendy Wild said ‘The local Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) contacted the Council on 22nd March to say they had spotted that money earmarked for surgical activity was included in the sums. These resources legally can’t be pooled between the NHS and the Council.
‘The Executive were meant to be formally approving the plans later that very same day – it is indicative of the chaotic nature of these negotiations so far that Lib Dem Councillors didn’t know if they were signing off on a £232 million or £202 million budget.
‘What is covered within the definition of ‘surgical activity’ might be as much as £30 million, which could have a massive impact on the ability of the Council to adequately deliver the joined-up, patient-centred reform of health and social care which is needed in Stockport.’
The Labour Group understands that after an initial proposal was made to bring together over 65 different CCG budgets with £84.7 million of investment made by the Council in adult social care, public health and learning disability services, that the planned CCG contribution will now been reducing from £147.4 million to around £117 million.
An extraordinary cross-party meeting of Councillors scrutinised the ‘Stockport Together – Integrating Health and Social Care’ proposals on 10th March before any of this detail was available and in advance of the pooled budget coming into place for 1st April.
Councillor Wild added ‘I will be pushing to get to the bottom of whether this oversight is an isolated issue with NHS regulations or not, because surely this should have come to light more than 9 days before the budget was meant to be operational.
‘With the pressure on the adult social care budget, with £8 million of cuts this year alone, it’s really the last thing the Council needs.
‘The £18.6 million of cuts which the Council is shouldering, already unpalatable and equating to a reduction in spending power of over £50 for every resident in Stockport next year, will become impossible to manage unless the Lib Dem Executive begin to work with key external stakeholders more effectively.’
Investigations by Stockport Council to confirm the extent of the proposed reduction in the budget for 2016-17 are ongoing.