THERE are still no plans to merge Warrington and Halton clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) – despite pressure to reduce costs by 20 per cent by 2020-21.

NHS England has asked organisations to review the allocation of resources for ‘management and administrative functions’ to ensure they are delivered as efficiently as possible.

NHS England and NHS Improvement are targeting a reduction in administration costs by a further 20 per cent by 2020-21.

And they are asking CCGs to deliver the same savings over the same period.

However, health chiefs have no plans to merge the Warrington and Halton commissioning groups.

During Warrington CCG’s governing body meeting on Wednesday, clinical chief officer Dr Andrew Davies said: “That is quite a big challenge, CCGs are fairly lean anyway.

“This is a bit of a driver around how structure of commissioning works in the NHS and looking at can we make things more efficient by working jointly.

“It has raised the question of a merger.

“All we can say is we aren’t planning to merge, however, the NHS is making plans about how things need to look, so there may be conversations down the line.

“It may not even be CCGs that are merging because there is talk of new legislation.

“I feel for NHS England as they have not got many places to go.”