Local government is in crisis due to swinging cuts in budgets but the NHS is safe! Well not really. It’s in a much better state than local government but is still under huge pressure.
There are a number of critical financial pressures on Manchester Health Services.
Firstly, demand is rising, we are living longer in Manchester, which increases the number of older people, which means greater demand for health services. Poverty reduces this impact as people die younger. The life-expectancy is Manchester is 74 for men and 79 for women as compared with the national average of 78 and 82. However this masks how bad it really is in the poorest areas of Manchester where life expectancy is much lower (combined average of 72.3 in Harpurhey). Poverty is associated with both more illness and longer periods of illness.
Secondly, researchers keep finding better ways of mending us. This usually leads to extra costs as newer drugs and new machinery are dearer than the previous treatments.
Clinical Commissioning Groups, just like local councils, are funded according to a National Funding Formula - there has to be some way of deciding how much everyone gets. There are proposals to change the funding formula and not in a good way (if you live in the North of England). The new funding formula puts greater weight on ageing populations and less on poverty. In comparison to the South-East, Manchester is high on poverty and low on older people. Manchester CCGs may lose 40 million out of a total budget in 2013/14 of roughly 690 million (North 252 million, Central 234 million, South 204 million). However, nationally they cannot agree what the new formula should be – so NHS has commissioned a report to look into it which will probably delay any changes for a while.
Links
Blog by Richard Caulfield, Chief Exec of VSNW on National Funding Formula
Manchester Intelligence Hub Analysis Tool
Public Health England page on Manchester
Blog about resource allocation in the NHS Blog about resource allocation in the NHS