IJB annual accounts approved admist financial challenges

Members of the Integration Joint Board Audit Committee were told last week (17 November) that the IJB has “appropriate and effective financial management arrangements in place” – however the board’s financial sustainability remains at risk.

The annual external audit was noted, and the annual accounts were approved by committee members and revealed the extent of the financial challenges being faced by the board in terms of the savings target of £4.2 millon which was over a three-year period ending 2022/23; workforce recruitment and retention and COVID-19.

The IJB, which is responsible for the delivery of a range of health and social care services across the county, has been tasked with a savings target of £4.2 million over a three-year period 2021 to 2023. The IJB achieved £0.15 million recurring savings in 2020/21 and has identified £0.1 million in recurring savings in 2021/22. Did the officers comment on this looking to the future?

The auditor states within the report that there is a significant risk that savings targets will not be achieved.

The IJB has earmarked reserves of £2.3 million against the revised budget of £62.7 million. This was mainly due to unspent late COVID-19 funding, Primary Care Improvement Funds and Alcohol & Drug Partnership Funding received from the Scottish Government and is held within IJB reserves.

Despite all the challenges Orkney continues to perform very well against Scottish benchmarks when it comes to a number of areas:

• percentage of adults supported at home, living as independently as possible;
• percentage of adults supported at home who agreed that they felt safe;

• percentage of adults receiving care or support who rate it as excellent or good.

In fact Orkney was placed within the top five performers in all nine outcomes.

Integration Joint Board Audit Committee Chair Steve Sankey said: “It has been an unprecedented year in respect of the accounting process because of COVID-19. We ended the year with a £2.3 million pound underspend, but these are all earmarked reserves for particular circumstances.

“It has been a difficult year putting everyone working on the IJB under pressure; we have come through rather well as the external auditor has said.

“Orkney is doing very well in terms of benchmarks against the rest of Scotland. I want to thank all staff within NHS Orkney and Orkney Islands Council for all their hard work in a very challenging year indeed.”

The audit committee approved the annual accounts which will be published by 30 November 2021.