Lothians care services chief unable to accept Edinburgh Council’s funding offer

The local authority is set to offer the Edinburgh Health and Social Care Partnership a funding deal which would put “pressures” of £19.4m on its budget for next year.

The chief officer of the partnership, Judith Proctor said she cannot recommend the offer is accepted by the Edinburgh Integration Joint Board (IJB).

The impact of an offer being rejected is “uncharted territory” but fears have been raised that the authority may have to set an emergency budget to keep functioning.

Ms Proctor said: “Through both organisations, the IJB has an offer for it to deliver its delegated services. We are considering budget saving options both from the council and NHS Lothian. We will be updating the board next Friday on that position.

“It’s very difficult for me to recommend that that’s a budget that we could accept. As it stands, I won’t be recommending that it’s something we can deliver easily.”

Union bosses  have hit out at the council for “sugar-coating” the savings required in a public consultation, which makes no mention of 300 full time equivalent jobs to be axed next year – as well as not mentioning the key issue, the expected cuts to health and social care.

Gerry Stovin from Unison, said: “I cannot see health and social care in here – you have pushed health and social care aside.

“There’s an additional £19m of cuts in health and social care – that’s £61m in total.”

Following an initial budget public consultation, officers said: “All demographic groups protected spending on mental health services more than any other area.”

And finance and resources convener, Cllr Alisdair Rankin, said part of the thinking in holding back £3m in Scottish Government funding was to “encourage the NHS to put as much money as they can to funding the IJB and health and social care.”

He added: “If we take that position that’s currently in the figures, it gives us a stronger negotiating position with the NHS to put more money into the pot.”

Conservative group leader, Cllr Iain Whyte, added: “We have not got any proposals in this strategy to close the gap in the integration joint board.”

It is thought that some or all of the additional Scottish Government additional cash the council is to receive following the Holyrood budget, estimated to be around £7m, could be pumped into health and social care services.