An Amber Valley borough councillor has voiced concerns over ‘secret’ plans for £240m worth of cuts to the NHS in Derbyshire. Councillor Maurice Neville, for Belper Central, says Derbyshire’s Sustainability Transformation Plan (STP) – the result of a collaboration between health and social care leaders in the county – is part of a larger countrywide scheme to plug a £22bn NHS funding gap.
Coun Neville said he had become aware of the plans early in 2016 and that leaked STPs – such as that of Cheshire and Mersyside’s which revealed a £1bn funding gap – showed their main purpose was to plug huge funding gaps.
He said: “At a public meeting in Belper last Friday we heard from the chair of Southern Derbyshire Clinical Commissioning Group and from the Derbyshire Community Health Trust that at least £240m in Derbyshire NHS costs will be cut by 2021. “We already know that £140m will also be missing from council-funded social care, which puts more strain on the NHS. “But we are already fighting community hospital cuts in Belper and all over Derbyshire.”
Full story in The Derbyshire Times, 17 October 2016