HEALTHCARE groups are £94million in the red thanks to Covid-19, new figures reveal.

Mid and South Essex Clinical Commissioning groups painted a bleak figure after unveiling their current deficit, which they said would “take years” to recover from.

A report to the Southend, Castle Point and Rochford Clinical Commissioning Group called the deficit “unacceptable” and revealed the figure had been calculated after Government funding for Covid-19.

A spokeswoman for the group said the actual amount of funding could not be revealed but that it had been “adequate”.

Nevertheless the group issued a statement blaming the pressures of Covid-19 for the huge deficit.

Mark Barker, Joint Chief Finance Officer, Mid and South Essex CCGs said: “The NHS has experienced unprecedented challenges in the response to Covid-19.

“The financial position across mid and south Essex has been impacted in the response to the pandemic, not only in the care for Covid-19 patients, but also in the recovery to provide care for patients that have experienced delays in treatment. Managing the budget for the provision of care across Mid and South Essex will require all partners working together to plan, prioritise and reduce waste with the ambition of living within the available budget for our population.

“Financial recovery and subsequent sustainability will take years to achieve through integration and transformation.”

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The clinical commissioning groups, hospitals and other healthcare providers in the region are moving towards forming an Integrated Care System.

These are new partnerships between the organisations that meet health and care needs across an area, to coordinate services. Mr Barker added this would assist in the current financial challenges. He said: “In preparation for these challenges a number of changes are being made to the basis on which our system operates which includes the creation of a health and care partnership across our mid and south Essex system as our clinical commissioning groups come together and transition into an Integrated Care System.”

Despite local and national data showing a reduction in the number of Covid-19 cases and hospitalisation and the success of the vaccination programme, clinical commissioning groups remain at the highest emergency level.