NHS needs to assess risks of splitting its budget between several agencies, says think tank

Government changes to the way NHS funding is allocated in England risk undermining the drive for greater integration in the health service and should be thoroughly assessed, health policy experts have warned.

Changes that the government has made to NHS resource allocations for 2013-14 have split budgets previously distributed in their entirety to primary care trusts between many different agencies. In a new report this week the health policy think tank the King’s Fund said that this would fragment the system and “make it more difficult to commission integrated forms of provision.”1

The changes, part of the Health and Social Care Act 2012, will see financial allocations from the Department of Health split between local clinical commissioning groups, which will hold …