Shropshire Star

Shropshire health commissioning groups on target to merge

Shropshire's two health commissioning groups are on track to merge early next year.

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Shropshire Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) and its Telford counterpart are due to merge on April 1, 2020 - subject to agreement by NHS England.

Accountable officer David Stout said while there is still a lot of paperwork to submit, he is confident it will happen on time.

The decision to merge the two CCGs was made after they were told to save £1.2 million between them this year.

Chairman of Shropshire CCG, Julian Povey, said it is a misconception that money will be cut from services.

He assured that the 20 per cent reduction would come solely from 'running costs'.

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Accountable officer, David Stout, also addressed concerns about the merger which has caused controversy across parts of the county, especially in Telford where the CCG has a balanced budget.

Earlier this year Derek White, of Telford & Wrekin Council, said he feared Telford would 'absorb' Shropshire's debts.

Mr Stout said: "The elected politicians are right to have their views as they work on behalf of their constituents.

"But the amount of money allocated is set by a national formula and the allocations will not change by bringing the CCGs together.

"I know they are worried about our deficit in Shropshire but it is not a threat to services. We don't actually have radically different financial positions."