PCTs look to save millions with new cuts
pharmafile | December 23, 2010 | News story | Sales and Marketing | GP consortia, NHS, NHS cuts, NHS reforms, PCTs, generic prescribing
The NHS in England is cutting back on so-called ‘low priority’ procedures and looking to increase generic prescribing in order to make major savings.
A number of PCTs have already announced cuts to areas such as bariatric surgery and IVF treatment in order to save millions from their budget.
Prescribing costs are also coming under pressure. Last year across the UK as a whole 83% of prescriptions were written generically, according to industry figures, and this is now likely to increase as the health service braces itself for major reform.
The NHS has been tasked with making £15 – £20 billion in efficiency savings between 2009 and 2015 and regional authorities are desperately trying to reel in costs.
West Sussex PCT says it will cut bariatric surgery, IVF treatments and vasectomies – traditionally the first of the low priority services to be cut in lean times.
But it said more needed to be done, as it still requires £15 million worth of savings, meaning more cuts could be on the horizon.
North Yorkshire and York PCT has followed suit, halting IVF procedures in an effort to trim £150,000 by April.
It is also working with GPs to increase generic prescribing whilst planning to make around 60 members of staff redundant to reduce management costs.
Cuts are coming thick and fast as all PCTs aim to meet their percentage of cuts by the end of the financial year.
PCTs will be replaced by GP consortia by 2013, the first of which will be launched in January as a pilot scheme, and it’s these consortia that will inherit the financial burden felt by PCTs as many are set to takeover trusts in their current form.
The Department of Health claims the reforms will save hundreds of millions of pounds as it strips out layers of management, replacing them with doctors.
Ben Adams
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