QIPP, CIP, CEP, FRP, FRG, Turnaround, financial efficiencies …. What on earth does it all mean?
Whilst our priority will always be providing the best possible care for our patients, we must consider finances. The NHS does not have an unlimited pot of money so we have to use our resources as efficiently and effectively as possible.
In NW London we are currently forecast to spend £140m more this financial year than we actually have. We therefore need to make efficiency savings across the NHS in NW London to bridge this gap. But this does not mean cuts. Infact, it can’t mean cuts. We need to make efficiency savings whilst at the same time driving up the quality of services we provide and the outcomes we achieve. So, we need to do more…for less!
Turnaround and financial recovery
As a sector, we are voluntarily in turnaround. This means we have identified that we need to have a real focus on finances in NW London as our books will not balance at the end of the year if we don’t.
We therefore have a NW London Financial Recovery Programme (FRP) in place which is being overseen by the Financial Recovery Group (FRG) made up of the CCG Accountable Officers and Chief Financial Officers.
Our recovery programme will be successful if we can find a way of not overspending by £140m. We will do this by identifying QIPP projects...
QIPP
QIPP (Quality, Innovation, Productivity and Prevention) are savings which can be made by commissioners buying more efficient services. These savings will not just impact this financial year, but are ongoing improvements.
In NW London, we are running QIPP projects at three levels:
- In individual CCGs
- in Strategy & Transformation (S&T)
- cross-cutting across multiple CCGs
There are lots of people working on lots of QIPP projects but there is more to do and we all have a role to play.
There is a QIPP steering group, which meets weekly and is made up of representatives from all eight CCGs and Strategy Transformation directorate which takes a detailed look at plans and ideas to identify where we can be more efficient.This groupwants to hear from you – do you think we are wasting money somewhere? Is there a project which could be run more efficiently? Does something frustrate you as it could be done better? – whatever your suggestion, email and you will get a response.
Over the coming months, we will update everyone on a weekly and monthly basis on how we are progressing against our financial challenge.
CIP
Financial pressures are not just a problem for commissioners. The NHS trusts in our area have the same issues but they have CIPs - Cost Improvement Programmes. Similar to QIPP, these are schemes to increase efficiency/ or reduce expenditure. They are not part of our financial recovery programme.
CEP
There are however areas of joint working where it makes sense to have some pan NW London schemes for providers and commissioners to work together to make savings. These are known as CEP (Capped Expenditure Programme) and do feed into our recovery programme.
So in summary...
- We are forecast to overspend, but we have a plan
- we want to hear from you for more ideas to feed into that plan
- we all have a role to play in making sure that our spending is efficient and effective.