Funding local healthcare: Chair's statement
11 September 2014
A statement from The Rt Hon Margaret Hodge MP, Chair of the Committee of Public Accounts:
The Department of Health and NHS England’s approach to funding the local bodies that commission healthcare doesn’t add up. Given the pressure on NHS resources, it is more important than ever that money is distributed fairly, and the fair amount is worked out by taking into account what funds are available and factors like need and population characteristics. It hardly seems right that funding for clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) can vary from £137 per person less than their fair share, to £361 per person more.
It’s outrageous that 104 CCGs received more than their fair share of the available funding in 2013-14. These bodies had a combined surplus of more than half a billion pounds at the end of the year. This is all the more ridiculous when you learn that 19 of the 20 CCGs with the tightest financial position received less than their fair share of resources.
It is frustrating that funding decisions are based on judgements rather than hard evidence about what funding changes they can tolerate. Despite my Committee’s recommendation in 2011 that the Department should commit to giving the right funding for an area’s needs within a set time period, too little progress has been made and not enough has been done to ensure that decisions are based on sound data.
I look forward to discussing this with the Department and NHS England when they appear before us on 20 October.