ICBs locked in dispute over emergency care funding

Black Country Integrated Care Board is seeking additional money from Staffordshire and Stoke-On-Trent ICB to cover off the cost of treating the increasing number of patients from the system who are using urgent and emergency care services located in the BC ICS.

HSJ understands the amount in dispute totals several million pounds.

SSOT ICB reported that BC ICB was seeking a “substantial increase” in the money it wanted its neighbour to provide and that it was in the process of “disputing the extent of this”.

SSOT chief financial officer Paul Brown said the dispute stemmed from the post-covid change which saw non-elective care paid for under a fixed block contract, rather than via the payment by results system which sees funding rise along with activity.

Mr Brown said: “Our system is quite different in terms of distribution – 50 per cent of our acute care is provided for by University Hospitals of North Midlands, 30 per cent is provided in the Burton area by University Hospitals of Derby and Burton, [and] 20 per cent in the south in Wolverhampton.”

The first provider is a member of the SSOT ICS, while UHDB is in the Derbyshire Integrated Care System and Wolverhampton is situated in the Black Country.

Mr Brown admitted more patients are now being treated at Wolverhampton’s New Cross hospital and ”we should pay for that [activity], However, he added ” not at the levels black country are asking for”,

He noted Black Country ICB was under “very significant financial pressures” and was forecasting a 2024-25 deficit of around £120m. SSOT ICS is also looking at a £130m deficit for the current year.

Black Country ICB said discussions with the ICBs are ongoing to reach a resolution.