Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board working to secure £108m in extra funding

Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board is fighting to balance its books to secure £108 million of crucial extra central funding.
Having already saved £46m this year however, if the board can make an additional £17m of savings – taking it’s annual savings to £63m – it will break even, retaining an £82m additional funding stream from Welsh Government and unlocking £26m of support to mitigate its contribution to the Welsh Risk Pool – a boost totalling £108 million.
The labyrinth of Welsh NHS funding means it can make it challenging to keep track of the state of BCUHB’s finances – which fund health services across North Wales at Wrexham Maelor, Ysbyty Glan Clwyd and across many smaller GP, community treatment and care facilities across the region.
Its most recent financial figures put BCUHB sat £29.3m in deficit. It is operating £11.4m behind it’s financial plan with a monthly overspend of around £2m. If that trend continues it will achieve and maybe surpass its predicted £43m deficit for 2026/27.
According to departing BCUHB Finance Director Russ Caldicott however, if the board can put measures in place to stem that monthly overspend and reach its £63m savings target, Welsh Government will unlock the full £108m funding package for the board.
“We’ve been having some robust conversations with our leadership teams and that is starting to give us some real positive outcomes,” Mr Caldicott told the bi-monthly meeting of the health board.
“We were asked to achieve £46m of savings by month five and we have achieved £47m so we’ve gone beyond that.
“We need to recover the deficit – which stands at £11.4m but by the time recovery measures are in place will be between £13m and £14m.
“If we can find another £17m of opportunity we will hit a break-even position and be able to resubmit our IMTP (Integrated Medium Term Plan).”
Teams within the board are already looking for savings with around £9m tentatively identified and awaiting confirmation.
If it fails Welsh Government could withhold the £82m – putting BCUHB in an even deeper crisis.
Independent board member Sir Paul Lambert said time was of the essence.
“The next board meeting is November, which will be halfway through quarter three,” he said.
“A lot of the £2.6billion budget we have to spend is not flexible – in fact between £1.75bn and £2bn is pretty rock solid so we are looking for savings among the very top bit of flexibility.
“Those savings choices need to come to this board at the latest by the next board meeting if not earlier.” ‌​‌​‌​​​‍‌​‌​​‌‌‌‍‌​‌‌​​‌​‍‌​‌‌‌​‌‌‍‌​‌‌‌‌​​

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By BBC LDRS ‌​‌​‌​​​‍‌​‌​​‌‌‌‍‌​‌‌​​‌​‍‌​‌‌‌​‌‌‍‌​‌‌‌‌​​