05 December 2008
By Mike Thatcher
The timetable for the creation of new local health boards in Wales will create a 'nightmare' for NHS finance staff, the head of strategic direction at the Welsh Assembly Government has admitted.
Bob Hudson told delegates at the CIPFA Wales Cymru annual conference that the boards will be created in shadow form from June next year and will go live in October. Seven new super-boards will emerge from the merger of the current 22 LHBs with the nine NHS trusts in Wales.
'A mid-year transition will give the accountants a bit of a nightmare in terms of running two completely different systems through 2009/10,' he said.
'But to delay until the following April would create even greater uncertainty in the system than is already there now.'
Confusingly, the LHB name is being retained for the new boards. 'NHS trusts are very closely associated with the reforms of the early 1990s and the implementation of the internal market. LHBs don't carry quite the same historical baggage,' Hudson suggested.
A consultation document was issued this week, which gives more details on the proposed changes. Consultation will close in February.
The seven new boards will cover: North Wales; Gwent; Cardiff and the Vale; Cwm Taf; Hywel Dda; Abertawe Bro Morgannwg; and Powys. Two existing health organisations – the Welsh Ambulance Service Trust and the cancer specialist Velindre NHS Trust – will remain.
Hudson confirmed that there would be efficiency savings, although he declined to offer a figure for the expected number of redundancies.
'If you move from 30 statutory bodies to seven unified boards and two overall organisations, you don't need to be a genius to do the maths in terms of the number of chief executive posts and executive posts that we will not have in the new system,' he said.
'So there should be clear opportunities for savings to be made and the money to be diverted to patient care.'
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