They said the health system was in “perpetual crisis mode” with a lack of clinical leaders and a managerially focused leadership with “many examples of silo working”.
They reported that clinical commissioning groups in the county did not collaborate and their plans, including financial contracts, were not aligned with each other or providers.
[2] In 2016 the CCGs of Stafford and Surrounds, Cannock Chase, and South East Staffordshire and Seisdon Peninsula were proposing a virtual merger, in which all operational functions would be combined, leaving only the governing bodies separate.
[11] The North Staffordshire and Stoke on Trent clinical commissioning groups expected a deficit of £27 million in 2018–19.
The CCGs in Cannock Chase, South East Staffordshire and Seisdon Peninsula, and Stafford and Surrounds forecast a combined deficit of £29 million.
The four CCGs covering Stafford and Surrounds, Cannock Chase, Stoke-on-Trent and North Staffordshire set up a ten-year contract for cancer services in 2015 with Interserve Investments, University Hospitals of North Midlands NHS Trust and Royal Wolverhampton Hospitals NHS Trust.
The North Midlands Trust withdrew in July 2015 because it expected that costs, particularly for drugs, would rise at a rate above inflation.
Mental health services in the South of the county are provided by Midlands Partnership NHS Foundation Trust.
Children's autism services were provided by South Staffordshire and Shropshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust and Midlands Psychology, a social enterprise from 2010 until 2019 when it was moved to Midlands Partnership NHS Foundation Trust after several poor reviews and a report from Healthwatch Staffordshire which said that parents' complaints had been ignored.
[18] Midlands Partnership NHS Foundation Trust provides both health and social care community services.
North Staffordshire Clinical Commissioning Group was the first in the country to restrict access to NHS-funded hearing aids.
[21] In October 2018, after a prolonged dispute with the CCG, Virgin terminated all the elements of the contract for which it did not itself directly deliver services.