PAC demands detail of continuing healthcare savings

While spending on CHC will continue to grow year-on-year, the savings are compared to predicted growth in spending on CHC and NHS-funded nursing care and must be delivered by 2020/21.

The influential Commons committee said it was unclear how this could be achieved without restricting access to care either by increasing eligibility thresholds or by limiting care packages.

Spending on CHC grew by 16% between 2013/14 and 2015/16, compared with 6% for the NHS as a whole. Estimates have suggested that spending on CHC and NHS-funded nursing care will increase by 45% by 2020/21 unless action is taken to control costs.

NHS England said that CCGs were on track to achieve the savings against projected spend and that the savings could be achieved by tackling variation, adopting best practice, speeding up assessment work, reducing administration costs and using better case management.

Along with the Department of Health and Social Care, NHS England insists there is no quota or cap on access and that eligibility criteria will not change.

PAC chair Meg Hillier (pictured) said CHC funding oversight had been poor. ‘NHS England’s demand that clinical commissioning groups make big efficiency savings will only add to the financial pressures on the frontline,’ she said. The committee called on NHS England to give a ‘costed breakdown’ of how efficiency savings will be made.