A PATIENTS’ group has won a battle to legally challenge a North East health trust’s funding cuts to rural GP practices.
Since 2007, Friends Of Bellingham Surgery (FOBS) has tirelessly campaigned against cuts after plans were made to reduce rural budgets to help make huge savings across the area.
The group claims that over the last three years it has had regular meetings with officers at Northumberland Care Trust and was led to believe the cuts would be limited to 3% per year, pending the findings of some commissioned research.
However, FOBS claims it has emerged the average Northumberland GP surgery has now lost some 20% of its budget over the last three years, and the small and rural practices have lost more than 30% in some cases.
In particular, Bellingham Surgery is thought to be one of the biggest losers, suffering a funding cut of £67,000 per year. Now the High Court has granted a Judicial Review into the issue, which FOBS hope will reverse what it believes to be an unfair funding settlement.
Retired Bellingham GP Dr Iain Mungall, who is a key member of the patients’ group, said: “We are delighted that a Judicial Review has been granted.
“We have taken a major step forward and we are confident in our case, but we are not going to count our chickens before they hatch as we have not had the final outcome yet.
“The judge was extremely supportive and said the review was important, and not just for the patients of the Bellingham practice, but for the wider community.
“It means that we can now go forward to get a full review and we hope that action will be taken to reverse the situation as we believe the funding decision made by the trust was unlawful.”
The funding cuts were imposed by Northumberland Care Trust four years ago as it struggled to balance its books – fighting a £14m debt.
The trust said it has been brought back into financial balance, however its financial standing remains challenging.
At an earlier review, the trust had argued that the FOBS case was only of academic interest, that the patients’ group did not have a proper standing to be able to make the case, and that the application had been made “out of time”.
However, at the High Court hearing Mr Justice King ruled that the case was in time and the Judicial Review will go ahead, at a date to be arranged.
Mr Justice King decided, having heard the arguments, that he would award a Protective Costs Order, limiting the potential liability to FOBS to a maximum of £10,000 should FOBS lose the case.
Among other issues, he agreed that without such an order, it was likely that FOBS would not be able to continue to the full hearing, with their exiguous assets. He noted that the assets of FOBS and the health trust were “unequal”. Mike Murray, for FOBS, said: “We are delighted with Mr Justice King’s ruling. We look forward to the full Judicial Review.”
Last night, health bosses said they had been told of the review. A spokesperson for NHS North of Tyne, which works on behalf of Northumberland Care Trust, said: “We are aware of Mr Justice King’s decision and are considering our position.”
We hope action will be taken to reverse the situation as we believe the decision was unlawful
