Exclusive GP commissioners are shunning management consultants and have dramatically cut NHS spending on external support since CCGs assumed full budgetary responsibility in April, a Pulse investigation reveals.
Figures obtained under the Freedom of Information Act from 141 CCGs across England show an accumulated spend of £5.66m since April on consultancy firms such as McKinsey & Company, PwC, KPMG and Capita - an average of £42,300 per CCG.
Extrapolated across all 212 CCGs, the investigation suggests that just under £9m has been spent across England so far, a sharp reduction on the estimated £26m spent by PCTs between April 2012 and December 2012. Some 27 of the 138 CCGs who were able to provide a figure for spending told Pulse they have spent no money at all on external consultants this financial year.
Commissioning leaders welcomed the drop in spending, claiming the figures showed CCGs have the expertise to deal with many issues that would have previously required private consultancy services.
But the figures also show that a number of CCGs were forced to spend money on external support after the troubled rollout of the NHS 111 urgent care number, which was originally commissioned by PCTs.
The lead CCGs for NHS 111 in the North West and the West Midlands – Blackpool and Sandwell & West Birmingham respectively – both turned to consultants for support. Blackpool spent a large chunk of its overall £150,102 spend on ‘supporting the work around the re-negotiation of the NHS 111 contract’, while Sandwell & West Birmingham spent its £80,160 on end of life care, NHS 111 and safeguarding. When asked, neither CCG would specify the exact amount, nor what services were required.
Other CCGs to turn to consultancy support when dealing with NHS 111 included Vale of York, South Cheshire and the Isle of Wight.
The FOI responses also identified significant spending by CCGs in southeast London for work around the trust special administration (TSA) process with South London Healthcare NHS Trust - a process which eventually resulted in the High Court overturning health secretary Jeremy Hunt’s decision to close Lewisham Hospital’s A&E department.
Related stories
Map: How much have CCGs have spent on consultancy services?
2012 the year in review: A good year for …Private consultancy firms
Private consultancy firms paid millions in run-up to commissioning
The work around the TSA process was carried out by McKinsey & Company, with Bexley CCG paying £150,000 to the consultants, Greenwich CCG spending £73,333 and Lewisham CCG some £37,667. Lambeth CCG said it spent part of its total £106,000 on services connected with the TSA, and Southwark CCG reported an overall spend of £35,000, though neither CCG specified how much of their spending was on TSA work.
Nationally, the CCG which spent the most on consultancy support was Oxfordshire, with spending since April totalling £503,364. The CCG said that the bulk of this was on an ‘innovative outcome-based commissioning project’, initially dealing with maternity services, mental health and elderly and frail patients.
A CCG spokesperson said: ‘Developing this [outcomes based] approach is not only a way in which to ensure higher quality services based on what matters to patients, but will also provide a more cost-effective way of commissioning services. Getting the approach right is complex and needs specialist skills.’
‘Oxfordshire CCG is therefore employing the expertise of an experienced specialist consultancy to support them with the development and implementation of this new approach – the cost of this additional support is part of Oxfordshire CCG’s running cost allowance… Outcomes-based commissioning will also provide a platform for Oxfordshire CCG to make real progress in tackling its financial situation as this new way of commissioning services will have cost saving benefits over the long term.’
NHS Tameside and Glossop CCG was the second highest spender, with more than £300,000 spent on consultancy services for ‘programme projects’ and ‘corporate costs’ since April this year.
The reduction in consultancy spending this year follows falls in previous years as well, with a Pulse investigation previously having estimated a total spend by PCTs of £238m in 2008/9. However the reduction was by no means assured, given that some 40% of CCGs had already decided to enlist private sector support by January 2012.
Dr Michael Dixon, interim president of NHS Clinical Commissioners and chair of the NHS Alliance, welcomed the overall drop in spending.
‘It’s good news that spending is going down and we will continue to see it going down,’ he said. ‘It is quite a dramatic drop compared to massive amounts of money spent a few years back. In my view it is a trend we’re going to see.’
‘A while back we gave feedback on how things should be done and there is no disconnect anymore like there used to be. The CCGs have managers who they can go to’.
However, others said CCGs should be going even further in curbing spending on consultancy services.
Dr Kailash Chand, deputy chair of BMA Council and a retired GP from Lancashire, said: ‘There should be better utilisation for this money - it would be much better spent on patient care. There are already so many cuts being made, so why can’t they reduce their spending here? Why can’t such services be carried out in-house?’
