Blackburn with Darwen Teaching Care Trust Plus has reacted to a series of government announcements setting out priorities and budgets for the NHS for next year.
The Department of Health announced it will give £89bn to PCTs for frontline services, an increase of £2.6bn from this year, including funding for social care for the first time.
For Blackburn with Darwen, this means a budget of £290m for 2011/12, including £2m for social care – a 2.9% increase on this year’s funding but still around £2m short of the target allocation - what is considered to be the Care Trust’s ‘fair share’ of overall NHS funding.
Sir Bill Taylor, chair of the Care Trust Plus, said the small increase is ‘not quite what it seems’ and will not be enough to meet rising costs.
He said: "While the NHS is not facing cuts like other public sector organisations, the cost of delivering health services is rising faster than the rate of inflation due to more expensive medicines and a significant increase in demand for services.
"Without substantial budget growth, such increases and the financial consequences cannot be sustained. This means we will have to save money where we can in order to protect frontline services.
"Blackburn with Darwen Care Trust Plus, like all other NHS organisations, will have to make substantial savings in 2011/12 and beyond to meet its share of an estimated £20bn spending gap nationally over the next four years.
"As a result, in addition to the required NHS efficiency savings of 4%, we are currently planning to achieve additional savings of over £6m in 2011/12.
"We have prepared for this and will ensure that we will focus our resources on key priorities and will continue to make savings through making services more efficient, by reducing duplication, working in partnership with other health organisations and the Council and reducing unnecessary costs. "
