Management to be culled in health and council shake-up

A rift between health and council bodies in Glasgow is to result in a major shake-up of services and a cull of management posts in both – which will save hundreds of thousands of pounds.

NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde (NHSGGC) and Glasgow City Council have been at ­loggerheads over the further development of ­community and health care partnerships (CHCPs). These were designed to bring social work and health services closer together in the city, under joint management in five divisions.

But the health board has now outlined plans to run health services in Glasgow under just one city-wide CHP, sub-divided into three sectors covering the south, north-west and north-east of the city.

The plans appear to pre-empt work being done by Sir John Arbuthnott, who was charged with helping negotiate a truce. The council asked him to act as an adviser and carry out a review of the disagreement over how much money it was willing to commit to the CHCP project up-front.

A briefing issued by NHSGGC chief executive ­Robert Calderwood acknowledged Sir John’s review, but said the council was not planning to change its position, and so the board should press ahead with its own “alternative arrangements”.

These, he said, would generate £300,000 in savings through reducing the management costs associated with the current structure for community health services in the city.

Calderwood acknowledged that the “substantial change” to NHS staffing in the city would cause uncertainty and anxiety, and expressed regret at the breakdown of the CHCP model.

Although the council insists it is still committed to joint ­working, it moved yesterday to fall in line with Calderwood’s proposals at an executive committee meeting which backed a move to organise its social work and education services in Glasgow along the same three divisions NHSGGC is to use.

A report by Depute Leader Archie Graham said a move away from CHCPs presented an “opportunity”. The three-area model would generate economies of scale, he added, particularly by cutting management costs.

The council’s voluntary severance scheme means the reduction in senior managers might be readily achieved. However, Graham said the shake-up included “significant risks”, including the danger that frontline social work could be disrupted.

“Further reorganisation of the social-work service in Glasgow may have a negative impact on workforce morale,” he added.