Millions for health boost in Stockport
TWO Greater Manchester boroughs are set to be handed £36m to pump into health and social care services.
Council and health chiefs in Stockport and Salford are the first in the region to benefit from a £450m pot of cash to improve and dovetail services.
The money - from NHS England - was handed to the Greater Manchester Health and Social Care Partnership as part of the region’s historic £6bn devolution deal.
Stockport will get £19m and Salford £17m over three years. It will be used to give patients better access to GPs, pharmacies and community care; improve mental health services; and reduce the length of time patients needlessly spend in hospitals.
Integrated Care Organisations (ICOs) will be set up across the region to bring services together.
A plan to pool NHS and council budgets and streamline services in Stockport is gathering pace, with bosses ironing out the final details. The £19m share of the cash will go towards getting the borough’s ICO off the ground.
Manchester has been awarded a small amount of cash to support the ongoing development of plans to merge hospital trusts.
The city’s health chiefs want to bring Central Manchester - which runs the Manchester Royal Infirmary and the Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital - and University Hospitals South Manchester Trust (UHSM), which runs Wythenshawe, into one organisation in eight months’ time.
North Manchester General Hospital could be added by October 2018.
The region’s remaining boroughs are expected to apply for a share of the £450m later this year.
Lord Peter Smith, chair of the Greater Manchester Health and Social Care Partnership Board, said: “We worked hard to secure a £450m transformation fund to transform Greater Manchester’s health and social care system. We are determined to ensure patient services are improved as much as possible through sound, effective investment.
“I have every confidence that Salford and Stockport will use the funding to bring real improvement to the health outcomes of their regions.” »»For reaction to news of the funding from St Ann’s chief executive Eamonn O’Neal see page 22.