HEALTH bosses will reveal further details on how they will save millions of pounds every year by next month.

NHS Bury Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) is expected to make most of the cuts, which are aimed at plugging a multi-million-pound hole in the budget, by 2020/21.

It announced that Vitamin D deficiency testing and other procedures of limited clinical value would be cut at an emergency meeting last week.

The CCG governing body was told that this move would help make savings of nearly half a million pounds per year.

But CCG chairman Jeffrey Schryer said that other schemes, including intermediate care, outpatient services and urgent care at Fairfield Hospital, are set to be reviewed by October in a bid to save millions of pounds more.

He said: “At the very least, we will have these schemes implemented by the next financial year. By October, we will have a timetable and a plan.”

The CCG has a savings targets of £12.5m, four per cent of its total funding, for this financial year, of which £5.1m has already been identified.

The gap is blamed on historic underfunding, demographic pressures and demand increasing.

However, the only cuts that could be immediately implemented would only result in savings of £100,000 in this financial year.

It is hoped that the underlying financial deficit is tackled in time to start next year with a balanced budget, according to the report which was approved by the governing body last Wednesday.

A review of intermediate care is estimated to save the CCG £2m every year.

Redesigning outpatients follow up services could save £1m, accounting for an eighth of the annual follow up spend.

A further £1m of annual savings could be achieved by managing demand of primary care.

Around 6.2 per cent of urgent care costs, £1m, could be saved following a review of services.

There will also be a review of learning disabilities respite services, which is estimated to save the CCG £700,000 per year.

It is hoped that reducing the total spend on consultant to consultant referrals by 37.5 per cent would save a further £600,000 annually.

A total of £500,000 per year could be saved following a review of dermatology services and the respiratory pathway.

The remaining savings would be achieved as a result of reviews of the Greater Manchester Mental Health contract, Salford Royal Community contract and estates utilisation.

The governing body also gave the nod to a policy which sets out the principles, approach and process to support decommissioning decisions within the CCG at last week’s meeting.

Chief finance officer Mike Woodhead said: “Whatever gets proposed, we will follow the right processes in terms of public engagement and consultation. We are in the process of developing the communication strategy."