Island Life Magazine Ltd February/March 2015 | Page 26

INTERVIEW

Stretched
to the limit...
Special interview
by Peter White

T

Helen Shields

Caroline Morris

26

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hroughout virtually the whole
of the United Kingdom the
National Health Service is being
stretched to the limit, and the NHS
on the Isle of Wight is no different. A
shortage of nursing and medical staff,
including GPs; an ageing population
and unhealthy lifestyles among
residents is combining to heap
enormous pressure on all parts of
the Health Service. And with budget
cuts being threatened it seems the
situation can only get worse before it
starts to improve!
I met Helen Shields, Chief
Officer of the Isle of Wight Clinical
Commissioning Group (CCG), and
Caroline Morris, Head of Primary
Care, to try to discover what is
causing the intense pressures in
the NHS, and what steps need to be
taken to try to ease the situation.
They explained: “The Isle of Wight
Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG)
was founded in April 2013 and is a
membership organisation made up
of all the Island’s GP practices and
is the system leader for the local
NHS. The CCG is clinically led and is
responsible for developing the health
strategy for the Island NHS as well as
the planning, buying and monitoring
of services. The CCG has funding
of £200m to purchase healthcare
services for island residents.
“We buy a significant number of
services from the Isle of Wight NHS
Trust, however we also buy services
from mainland providers such as
Southampton, Portsmouth and
London. We also have contracts in

"One of the major
concerns on the Island
today is the difficulty in
attracting medical staff"

place that pay for care in nursing
homes, the Earl Mountbatten
Hospice, physiotherapists, as well
as services provided by GPs and
pharmacists. We hold over 200
contracts and are responsible for
ensuring that we get good value for
money and high quality care.”
Helen Shields continued: “We
have to make the decision where
the money goes. Yes, we do have
to juggle, and this is getting
more difficult as we are now
facing a period of very low/no
growth. The new formula which
determines how much money the
Island should get to pay for NHS
services puts us in the very difficult
position of being £35million
over target. In other words, the
Island is getting £35million more
than the Department of Health
thinks we need. That provides a
huge challenge; if we were to lose
£35million, even over a series of
years, a lot of difficult decisions
would have to be made.”
One of the major concerns on
the Island to day is the difficulty in
attracting medical staff, particularly
GPs. Helen said: “There is a
recruitment issue on the Island in
both primary and secondary Care. The