Locally, our CCG is in the red. Badly so too.
It seems that being rated as ‘inadequate’ did not give it the required fillip. Nor apparently did being placed under ‘Directions’ from NHS England. So now it is in ‘Special Measures’. Ouch.
In meetings, those on the inside have for several years been blaming the problem on a national system called Payment by Results, which guarantees payments for hospital activity regardless of whether the commissioner can afford it. They pointed the finger at the ‘over-performance’ of hospital trusts, as deliciously Orwellian as that concept is, forcing them to pay up.
No matter that we did not choose our CCG, nor that any blame for its losses is ours — indeed, no matter where …