Greater Manchester takes control of its £6 billion health budget

Greater Manchester has taken control of its £6 billion annual health budget in a “landmark” power transfer.

It is the first time the Government has devolved health spending to a region.

A transitional plan came into effect in April last year but on Friday full responsibility for the health and social care budget was given to the Greater Manchester Combined Authority.

The new plans are designed to help ease pressure on hospitals by focusing on local needs and services in the community.

The Institute for Public Policy Research said the challenge for Greater Manchester is now to prove that local leaders “really can do a better job than (Health Secretary) Jeremy Hunt and (Chancellor) George Osborne”.

Announcing the plans last year, Mr Osborne insisted the massive expansion of devolution would not weaken the NHS nationally but would give Greater Manchester more control of its own affairs.

Harry Quilter-Pinner, from the institute, said: “Today’s handover of powers from Westminster to Greater Manchester Combined Authority is confirmation that devolution is an idea that is finally becoming reality.

“While there are undoubtedly risks involved in ‘devo-health’, detractors are overstating their case and failing to see the opportunities that it provides.

“The biggest of these is the possibility for local leaders to align health spending with spending on all the other things that determine our health. There’s now a mass of evidence that ill health is impacted by areas of policy as diverse as housing, transport, criminal justice, education and employment.

“The challenge for Manchester is to lead the way by showing how local leaders can unlock these benefits and demonstrate that they really can do a better job than Jeremy Hunt and George Osborne. This is no small task given the speed and scale of cuts to the NHS and to public services more generally.”

Local Government Association chairman Lord Porter welcomed the move and said it should pave the way for future health devolution deals in other areas.

“This landmark transfer of responsibility is a significant step in joining up social care and health in order to get the best outcomes for people living in Greater Manchester,” he said.

“Though all health devolution agreements will be unique, this deal provides us with useful lessons on how to turn a devolution deal into an achievable transformation plan.”

He hopes other Whitehall departments will follow the move, saying: “As well as health budgets, Whitehall needs to put its faith in devolving the fullest range of powers to all local areas, with no policy areas out of bounds and with them free to choose the best governance to suit their local needs.

“This will see money targeted where it’s most needed in order to deliver more homes and infrastructure, create jobs and a skilled workforce, join up health and care services for elderly and vulnerable people, and make the most of each place’s unique assets and deliver health and prosperity for all citizens.

“Widespread devolution supported by fairer funding is essential for the survival of public services and to deliver the Government’s ambition for our communities and national economy.”

Mr Osborne said it was a “fantastic example” of the devolution revolution, moving away from decisions being taken in London and to a situation where “local people are in charge of things that affect local communities”.

The Chancellor said: “I think this is a really big and exciting day for Greater Manchester, and Greater Manchester is leading the rest of the country because for the first time anywhere in Britain, we are saying the people who are going to make the decisions on the NHS are going to be local people, locally elected, locally accountable.”

He added that decisions on where money would be spent would result in a better service and better care for patients.

“We are also going to try and close that gap between social services, social care and the NHS. By making sure all these decisions are taken together for the benefit of Greater Manchester I think it will be much better patient care, a much better service and it will be a better service to work in for the dedicated staff.

“All this is against a backdrop of an NHS budget that is rising, so there’s money going into the NHS, of course there are more challenges in the NHS as well as new treatments become available.”

Mr Osborne added: “What’s really exciting about today is those decisions on where the money goes, what the priorities are, what the services are that we want to provide to local people. Those decisions are going to be taken in Greater Manchester and that is not happening anywhere else in the UK.”

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