News / Ministers insist BCF will ease pressures but survey reveals rising finance concern

Launching the BCF plans for 2015/16, health secretary Jeremy Hunt said the total value of the fund had increased from the original £3.8bn to £5.3bn, with local areas choosing to allocate more than their minimum funding commitment.

The fund would support seven-day services, a named professional to coordinate an individual’s care, better sharing of information and joint assessments.

Local plans aimed to achieve savings of  £785m, including £253m from a 3% reduction in admissions from A&E.

Mr Hunt said breaking down the barriers between health and social care would benefit patients and ensure hospitals could focus on treating those who needed their services.

‘For years, successive governments and NHS leaders have talked about joining up our health and care services so people get better care at the right time and in the right place. The time for talk is over – our plans will make this vision a reality for patients and help deliver a sustainable future for the NHS,’ he said.

Care and support minister Norman Lamb added: ‘By getting local health and care teams working together to focus on prevention, not just the treatments we need, we can stop families and the NHS from having to pay the price for these unnecessary crises.’

However, the King’s Fund warned the NHS faced rising pressures in this financial year and the next. In its latest quarterly survey of 133 finance directors (July-September), almost 37% of trust finance directors said their organisation forecast a year-end deficit – up from about 25% in the first quarter and the highest proportion since the quarterly survey was launched in 2011.

The fund said that, alongside problems with morale, trusts’ financial position was deteriorating – more than two-thirds said their forecast position for 2014/15 was worse than their 2013/14 outturn.

Clinical commissioning group finance leads were more positive, with 11.5% forecasting a deficit at year end. The figure at Q1 was just over 8%. Half of CCGs said their forecast position was similar to their 2013/14 outturn, with 30% saying it was worse.

The fund said around 50% of CCG and trust finance leads were concerned about achieving the cost improvement or QIPP targets this year – the highest since the survey began. Two-thirds of trust directors and just over half of CCGs were concerned about meeting the 2015/16 targets. The fund said this was worrying as it suggested finding efficiency savings was more difficult.

There was also pessimism over achieving the £20bn Nicholson challenge, now in its final year. Some 75% of trust finance directors and 58% of CCG finance leaders believed there was a high risk the NHS would fail to achieve the target.

Waiting times targets for A&E, inpatient and cancer treatment were missed, despite added funding to ease pressure on A&E and reduce waiting times. This pointed to a challenging winter ahead, it said.

‘The NHS relies on the dedication of its staff, so the growing concern about staff morale is worrying,’ said the King’s Fund policy director, Richard Murray.

‘Given the close association between staff engagement and quality of care, this is a warning sign that should be taken seriously by NHS leaders,’ he added. ‘The number of trusts forecasting deficits indicates that financial problems are no longer confined to a small number of organisations and are now endemic across the health system.’