Wall of silence on ‘secret’ Staffordshire NHS cuts

Officials are refusing to say where the axe could fall under the controversial 'capped expenditure process' (CEP) introduced by NHS England and NHS Improvement.

Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs) have been ordered to strip out costs by imposing financial restrictions on healthcare trusts, to balance the books.

Campaign group 38 Degrees sent Freedom of Information (FOI) requests to CCGs across Staffordshire asking for details of how they plan to comply with the regulations – but the group is yet to receive a reply, prompting them to launch a petition asking MPs to join their call for information.

So far, 2,430 people have signed the petition, which asks that plans are brought out into the open.

When the petition comes to an end, it will be sent to all MPs across the county, asking that they put pressure on Jeremy Hunt to reveal the details of the CEP plans for Staffordshire.

Holly Maltby, Campaigner at 38 Degrees said: "This new evidence reveals NHS bosses are being forced to rush through cuts and closures so quickly they are ignoring their own rules for involving patients.

"The health service is struggling to cope with a lack of funding, but plugging the funding gap through secret cuts isn't in the best interests of patients.

"The plans - called a 'capped expenditure process' - are being finished right now.

"Because the plans are secret it's hard to say exactly which services in our area could be at risk.

"But the scale of the threat is clear - NHS bosses have been told to 'think the unthinkable' for these plans.

"The NHS belongs to all of us - so all of us should get a say in any changes to our local services.

"That’s why over 2,000 peoples from Staffordshire are urging their MPs to help reveal the extent of the cuts to their local NHS services, and these local residents deserve to be consulted on decisions that may significantly impact their lives.”

The concerns come amid wide-scale changes to healthcare in Staffordshire outlined in a five-year Sustainability and Transformation Plan (STP), which was revealed in December 2016.

The 88-page document, which looks at all aspects of care from acute services to mental health, says the current system in the county is 'unsustainable' and 'unaffordable', warning that there will be a funding gap of £542m unless action is taken.

James Turner, a spokesperson for the NHS in Staffordshire said that any changes to services as a result of the plans will go out for public consultation.

He said: “We published a plan last December which set out the transformation of health and care services that will be required in Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent in order to make them clinically and financially sustainable.

"The issues included in that plan were discussed at ten public engagement events hosted by Healthwatch between October and December of last year.

"Further work continues to be done on the plan and any significant service change identified will be subject to formal public consultation.

“The NHS in Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent is currently spending more money than it receives to provide services.

"This is not a sustainable position.

"Our focus is on improving the health of the population and the quality of services while reducing the total amount we spend.

"It is going to be a challenge, but it is what, collectively, we’re committed to doing for the people of Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent.”