CCG to withhold acute payments in contract row

South Lincolnshire CCG has told Peterborough and Stamford Hospitals Foundation Trust that it will refuse to pay a monthly two per cent tranche of its contract, worth £3.8m per month, with the provider until the commissioners are satisfied with its improvement plans.

The CCG reported last month that Peterborough and Stamford has failed to meet targets for the Referral to Treatment in 18 weeks standard in a number of specialties.

The trust also failed to meet the A&E four hour wait target for the seven months to July.

The contract between the trust and the CCG is worth approximately £45m per year.

A paper presented to the CCG’s board meeting last month said: “Although discussions have taken place the trust has not yet provided [remedial action plans] that the CCG is able to agree.

“The CCG has declared that there is a ‘failure to agree’ a [remedial action plan] for A&E and will therefore withhold two per cent of the contract value each month until agreement is reached.”

A spokeswoman for Peterborough and Stamford said: “The trust has drawn up a remedial action plan in order to address the issues raised by the concerns from South Lincolnshire CCG regarding the performance of the contract.

“The trust is meeting with the CCG in order to try to resolve the disagreement regarding the time frames of our [remedial action plan]. The trust will face further financial constraints if an agreement is not made.

The trust refused to comment on the impact that the withholding of funds would have on its acute performance.

Gary Thompson, chief officer for South Lincolnshire CCG, said: “The CCG has applied financial constraints on the trust due to not being in a position to resolve concerns around the remedial action plan. 

“Those constraints have resulted in the CCG withholding payment to the trust of approximately £200 per patient. 

“We continue to work with the trust to agree an action plan that will ensure patients’ constitutional rights are delivered.”