Derbyshire County Council leader hits back at '˜absolute cheek' of NHS funding claims

A claim that Derbyshire has been given an easy ride over health cuts was rejected by the leader of the county council who declared it '˜an absolute cheek'.
Councillor Barry Lewis, leader of Derbyshire County Council.Councillor Barry Lewis, leader of Derbyshire County Council.
Councillor Barry Lewis, leader of Derbyshire County Council.

Councillor Barry Lewis said the comments made to the council’s health scrutiny committee by NHS England finance officer Paul Briddock hid a catalogue of financial mismanagement.

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Mr Briddock told a council committee the Derbyshire Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs) were being given a large proportion – more than 10 per cent – of the total budget available to CCGs across the country to help balance their books.

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This was more than their ‘fair share’ of the money available, said Mr Briddock.

But Coun Lewis hit back, saying: “It’s an absolute cheek to say we got off lightly. Many Clinical Commissioning Groups have failed to put their houses in order since day one and have been a model of inefficiency, promulgating the type of inefficiency that went before. Clearly no top-down impetus for them to do so either, judging by these comments.”