HEALTH bosses have been urged to face up to the tough decisions they will need to take as budgets dwindle.

An independent panel has expressed its concern that the district's Health and Wellbeing Board - which brings together public health, GP groups and others - is not yet having serious discussions about the major changes it will need to make.

The comments have come as part of a peer review process, which saw a team led by Wirral Council chief executive Graham Burgess visit Bradford to judge the board's effectiveness.

The review was organised by the Local Government Association and its findings, made public yesterday, were generally positive.

But it says: "One of the notable anomalies we observed was that, whilst everyone was aware of the impending financial challenges, no-one was really discussing it with any sense of urgency.

"We would therefore strongly urge you to give priority and create a safe space to have a fundamental debate about money.

"You will know that in the near future there is likely to be a budget gap across the health economy.

"As the leaders of the system you need to start thinking about what you will do when you have to make severe reductions in your budget."

The board chairman and leader of the Labour-run Council, Councillor David Green, was unavailable for comment yesterday.

But Councillor Simon Cooke, the Conservative representative on the board, said he too had concerns that the health board was not facing up to difficult decisions, such as whether the district's hospitals needed to be re-configured.

He said: "Most of the health spending is on hospitals, and quite rightly - that's where we want it spent.

COMMENT: VITAL HEALTH ISSUES CANNOT BE IGNORED

"But is everything we have got fit for purpose? I don't think we are having that discussion."

However, Cllr Cooke said he was alarmed at the suggestion that health bosses should create a "safe space" to have this debate, saying it sounded like a recommendation for talks behind closed doors.

He said: "We need to have a debate and the public needs to be involved in this debate."

Dr Anita Parkin, director of public health for Bradford Council and a member of the board, said there was a lot of "positive feedback" in the report.

She said: "The report noted that the district has 'a strong base to move forward' and that further improvement to our partnership approach could see the district becoming 'a beacon or system leader nationally'."

The peer review panel's recommendations:

  • Focus on fewer priorities;
  • Focus on the money and prioritise areas like illness prevention, given the limited resources that will be remaining;
  • Communicate the role of the Health and Wellbeing Board more clearly;
  • Strengthen the whole-system approach to health, building on contributions from services such as housing and transport;
  • Speed up plans to merge the commissioning teams for public health, adult services and children's services;
  • Become known as a board that makes sure things are happening.

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