Issue - meetings

This report asks Members to consider how they will respond to Selby and York PCT’s recovery plan and to decide how to ascertain the effects on services and their impact on the residents of York.

Members considered a report which presented draft proposals from the Selby and York Primary Care Trust (SYPCT) to address cash shortfalls faced by the PCT and asked them to consider how they would respond to this ‘recovery plan’ and ascertain its impact upon services.  Sheenagh Powell, the PCT’s Acting Director of Finance, gave a presentation to explain and supplement the report and the proposals.  Janet Probert, Director of Nursing and Service Modernisation at Craven, Harrogate and Rural District PCT, was also in attendance to answer Members’ questions.

The report outlined SYPCT’s intentions to make the £23m savings required by reducing the area’s higher than average rates of hospital referrals, as well as exploring more cost effective prescribing of drugs and ceasing some procedures classed as “cosmetic” or “social”.  Copies of the letter, referral criteria, service thresholds and patient booklet sent to all GPs in the SYPCT area were attached as Annexes A, B and C to the report.

The presentation set the proposals in context and explained the reasoning behind the required savings.  SYPCT would become part of North Yorkshire and York PCT in October this year.  All the local PCTs that would form part of this regional PCT were currently overspent and thus in danger of incurring financial penalties from the government.  A common approach was therefore needed to ensure that savings were made.  SYPCT’s proposals were designed to achieve £5m of their savings through internal efficiencies and the £17m remainder by reducing rates of referral to secondary care, which were currently very high in the Selby and York area.  3.5% of the allocation was to be kept back as a reserve to start the process of getting into balance.

Members raised concerns about the impact of the proposals on social care services provided by the Council and on patients, including those in rural areas, who might be unable to travel to specialist care centres.  They also queried the involvement of the Statutory Health Authority in the recovery plan and the timetable for publication of the proposals.  It was confirmed that there was no intention to reduce the budget for commissioning local authority services.  The issue of access to community based and specialist services was understood and there were plans to adopt a more innovative approach.  The final version of the recovery plan would be made public at the PCT’s Board meeting on 18 July, although some of the proposals were already in the public domain.

RESOLVED: (i)         That it be agreed that the Committee will scrutinise the whole of the PCT’s financial recovery plan and will identify appropriate aspects of the plan for a more detailed examination, which may be selected on the grounds of their potential knock-on effects on other service providers and the public in general.

                        (ii)        That the Chair and Cllr Fraser prepare a suggested work plan for this scrutiny process, covering the next 6-12 months, for consideration at the next meeting of the Committee.