Cornwall Council has warned that savings in the Cornwall and Isles of Scilly STP may not be achieved because of cuts to its public health budget.
Caroline Court, the interim director of public health at Cornwall Council, who represents the council on the STP project board, raised the concerns in a report published ahead of a meeting of the Health and Adult Social Care Overview and Scrutiny Committee tomorrow.
In 2015-16, £2m of Cornwall’s public health budget was reallocated to other services, such as prevention within adult social care. The council agreed not to reallocate any other funding until 2019-20, but it still faces a further £4m budget reduction because of cuts to the national government grant.
It has met the cuts so far by scaling down staff in the core and health promotion teams; reducing the value of contracts for drug, alcohol and sexual health services; and cutting the budget for NHS health checks in primary care.
The report warns that the council will need to further prioritise services to meet the funding shortfall, and make savings from important NHS contracts including health visiting, school nursing, sexual health and drug and alcohol services.
Full story in National Health Executive 28 November 2016