Welsh budget delay

The government published the 2020/23 planning framework for the local NHS, together with a review of health bodies’ progress on their 2019/22 integrated medium-term plan (IMTP).

The planning document said the Welsh government’s draft budget for 2020/21 will be published later than previously due to the spending review and Brexit. The government will give finance directors advice, resource planning assumptions and guidance as soon as information is available. Financial allocations should be published in early 2020.

Health boards and trusts must produce IMTPs every year, setting out how they intend to use their resources and work together to meet ministerial priorities and improve care over the coming three years. Value-based care should be a central element of the plans.

Health and social services minister Vaughan Gething said he expected IMTPs to provide assurance that ‘immediate and lasting changes’ were being implemented. ‘IMTPs continue to offer opportunities for NHS organisations to secure their trajectory for change,’ he said.

The planning framework outlines the finance requirements for the 2020/23 IMTP, which must be financially balanced and include workforce and finance profiles.

The 2020/23 plans have to be submitted by the end of January 2020. Organisations that cannot produce a balanced and sustainable IMTP at that time will have failed their statutory duty. They must submit an annual plan for 2020/21, while also developing a three-year plan.