News / Savings plans may be brought forward

It is possible that some of the savings required following the introduction of the integration transformation fund (ITF) will be brought forward to 2014/15, according to NHS England chief executive Sir David Nicholson (pictured).

In a letter to commissioners, Sir David said it was likely the ITF – which will see £3.8bn of NHS funds transferred to local authorities in 2015/16 – would need savings of more than £2bn from existing spending on acute care. This implied an extra productivity gain of 2% to 3% in the NHS in 2015/16.

He said NHS England would work with Monitor to determine how this was reflected in expectations on commissioners (in

the form of QIPP quality initiative savings from demand management and pathway change, for example) and providers (in the form of the efficiency deflator incorporated in tariff).

Sir David added: ‘We are exploring the feasibility of bringing forward an element of the 2015/16 saving requirement into 2014/15 to avoid a financial “cliff edge” in 2015/16.’

The letter also confirmed that NHS England intends to notify clinical commissioning groups of their allocations for 2014/15 and 2015/16. Sir David said this would help CCGs plan more effectively. NHS England was finalising proposals for new resource allocation formulae for CCGs and direct commissioning. But to ensure stability, change would be slow.

NHS England also published a notice on its commissioning intentions for prescribed specialised services in 2014/15 and 2015/16. It does not intend to change the scope of services it commissions directly in 2014/15 as it believes a period of stability is needed.