The Bedfordshire Clinical Commissioning Group (BCCG), the body responsible for organising local NHS services, is set to record a staggering loss of £40m for the current financial year.
This news is a disaster for the BCCG’s Governing Body which has in recent months overseen a spiralling deficit that is seemingly out of control. The estimate just last month stood at £28.8m but yesterday’s announcement confirms that the figure has been revised up by over £11m to £40m. NHS England has therefore taken the decision to instigate a review into the BCCG’s accounts and processes.
Cllr Stephen Moon, the Leader of the Bedford Borough Conservative Group, believes that the latest revelation underlines a ‘complete failure of financial discipline’ and he is calling for the BCCG Governing Body members to resign. He said:
‘It is an utter disaster that that we are in the last month of the financial year and yet the BCCG Governing Body is still unearthing the sheer scale of its financial mess. For the estimated deficit to rise from £28.8m in February to £40m in March shows that the BCCG’s financial monitoring and procedures have been nothing short of a shambles.
‘The money borrowed to cover the deficit will have to be paid back in future years. The BCCG needs to come clean on how this will affect services, particularly in the midst of the ongoing review of Bedford Hospital. It is unacceptable that those who have presided over this complete failure of financial discipline have yet to resign and they should do so immediately.’