Wolverhampton hospital transport at risk under £2.3m NHS budget cuts

A community ultrasound service and support groups for people with mental health illnesses also face having their funding withdrawn.

They are part of wider savings needed by Wolverhampton CCG, which is facing a shortfall of £37million over the next three years.

Bosses are reviewing services that are 'duplicated elsewhere or don't provide value for money' in a bid to find some of the savings.

They are looking at withdrawing funding for Age UK's 'supportive discharge service' which provides transport for 'vulnerable' people from New Cross Hospital to their home in Wolverhampton. It is used by around 120 patients a month but health bosses say this is not enough to justify continuing to run the service after March 31.

Funding will also be cut for a community ultrasound service which is run at Probert Road Surgery in Oxley, Wolverhampton and by Diagnostic Healthcare Ltd at sites in the city. Bosses say services are already provided at New Cross Hospital.

Funding will also be axed for 25 support groups for people with mental health illnesses run by Wolverhampton Voluntary Sector Council (WVSC)'s empowerment service.

CCG bosses say they already contribute to community development workers and a mental health specific group called Hear Our Voice.

A face-to-face interpreting service offered at GP surgeries will be replaced with a telephone service.

Other cost-cutting plans include withdrawing funding for some training schemes for care home staff.

Dr Dan de Rosa, chairman of Wolverhampton CCG and city GP, said: "Demand across every area of the NHS is growing and patients' expectations are changing.

"We should all be proud of the progress the NHS has made in enabling people to enjoy longer lives. However, this comes at a cost, as more people are living with conditions that were not common 20 years ago. At the same time, we need to reduce our spend by £8.5m in the next financial year.

"We're therefore reviewing all the healthcare services we commission to ensure we give patients the best value for money. This is a tough challenge, but we all have to play our part in reducing costs so that we can continue to retain high quality services that are sensitive to local need.

"Over the past year, we have been talking to residents, the voluntary sector and our health and social care partners about how we continue to provide everyone with the care that they need.

"We're now proposing to change, or stop funding, certain healthcare services and we'd like Wolverhampton people to tell us what they think."

A drop-in consultation event was taking place at the Mander Centre (today).

People can give their feedback by completing a survey online at //wolverhamptonccg.nhs.uk/your-health-services/help-shape-future-services while paper copies are available at GP practices across the city. People can also give their views by emailing janewoolley@nhs.net or calling 01902 444878. The deadline is April 12.