Greater Manchester's NHS has a £50m problem, and it's one it 'could never have foreseen'

Greater Manchester's NHS has experienced a 'mini explosion' in costs as it grapples with a £50m overspend in its budget for this year.

Collective action by GPs, which means that family doctors are stopping or reducing certain work, and the approval of 'enormously expensive' drugs are causing 'unforeseen' cost pressures, local health bosses have said. This follows a report to Greater Manchester's Integrated Care Board (ICB) that reveals a deficit in this year's budget of £49.2m, up from the £30.7m that had been budgeted for.

Interim chief finance officer Kathy Roe told the board that the extra cash for the NHS announced in the budget last month is expected to plug some of the gap in the budget.

However, she said the financial shortfall could increase as the ICB awaits further details.

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Ms Roe confirmed the ICB will not be directly affected by increases in employers' national insurance contributions. But she said that health providers considered to be private business, such as GP surgeries, will be affected which will have a knock-on impact.

The health boss cited 'workforce pressures' as one of the factors affecting the budget with NHS staff set to receive an above-inflation pay rise this year. But she said some elements of the budget controlled by ICB are 'volatile' and have increased unexpectedly.

She said: "We're seeing the impact of GP collective action. We're seeing the influence of drugs that have been agreed and approved by NICE that were never in the budget that are enormously expensive, management issues etc.

"We're seeing a little bit of a mini explosion in costs and demand that we could never have foreseen. But absolutely, we need to go further to look at these opportunities in other parts of spend to offset that.

"I'm just trying to put how difficult it is sometimes to balance that sort of volatility that comes through, some often at the last minute."

Ms Roe warned that the financial position could get even worse, but said that there are some signs that things might improve later in the year. However, she told the board of an 'increasing risk' that the ICB will not meet its financial plan this year as time is 'running out'.