NHS cuts will have 'profound effect' on patients

Integrated Care Boards have to save 50% on running costs

Plans to cut the running costs of the the bodies that plan and manage local NHS services will have a "profound and negative effect" on patients, a senior GP has warned.

The government wants to reduce the amount spent running Integrated Care Boards (ICBs) by 50% before the end of the year and cut non-clinical leadership roles by half.

Gloucestershire currently has its own ICB, but health bosses were told last week it is likely to merge with Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire's board.

The Department for Health and Social Care (DHSC) said it was "determined to tackle inefficiencies", but Gloucestershire's Dr Bob Hodges fears "experienced and knowledgeable" staff could be cut.

Dr Hodges, who chairs the Gloucestershire Medical Committee, which represents GPs in the county, said the NHS relies on competent managers and cutting them will have a "profound and negative effect" on patients.

He told BBC Gloucestershire: "I think this is going to be very negative because this is going to be removing all of the people in the NHS locally who really understand what we do and help us deliver health care."

ICBs were established in July 2022, but are the latest iteration of Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCG) that were introduced in 2013.

The new ICBS were given greater powers to work with local government, but retained the structure and the majority of the staff from the former CCGs.

Dr Hodges fears vital expertise could be lost

Dr Hodges said: "If you look at the pandemic, the ICB was absolutely instrumental in helping us not just adapt on the fly but also help set up the vaccine programme.

"Arguably the vaccination programme in Gloucestershire was one of the most successful in the UK."

He added previous NHS reorganisations have "done pretty much this, which is to get rid or the experienced, knowledgeable staff who are delivering most of the services".

Sarah Walters said the cuts could have a "knock on" effect on patients

"The impact of this will be the most profound of my 25 years so far, I'm very fearful about how this will pan out," he added.

NHS Confederation, the membership body for organisations that commission and provide NHS services, warned against thinking of managers as expendable.

Sarah Walters, a confederation director, said that the NHS spends much less on management than equivalent western healthcare systems.

"NHS managers play a pivotal role in ensuring clinical colleagues are able to provide the support patients require.

"There's a risk when you have a restructure of the NHS of this kind that it does have a knock on effect on how services are delivered, and how we make progress towards some of those transformations we want to see within the NHS."

A DHSC spokesperson said the authority had invested an extra £26bn to fix the "broken health and care system".

"We have underlined the need for trusts to cut bureaucracy to invest even further in the front line, so we can support hard-working staff and deliver a better service for patients and taxpayers' money," they added.