Councillors have warned health bosses that the targets in a plan to save Kirklees’ NHS £208m may be ‘impossible’ to achieve.
And Kirklees cabinet members complained of a ‘disconnect’ between funding available and ambitious service targets in the controversial Sustainability and Transformation Plan (STP).
The in-debt trust which runs Huddersfield Royal Infirmary has failed to achieve this target consistently since 2014.
Other STP aims include:
– A 40% reduction in the number of patients presenting at A&Es with mental health problems;
– The ‘elimination’ of mental health patients being sent outside the area for treatment;
– A wait of no longer than 18 weeks between referral and treatment for 92% of patients;
– A wait of no longer than 28 days for cancer diagnoses for 95% of patients.
But at a meeting between Kirklees NHS chiefs and councillors, Labour cabinet members Shabir Pandor and Viv Kendrick warned health bosses that the targets may be impossible to achieve without more funding.
Full story in the Huddersfield Daily Examiner, 28 November 2016