Excellence comes at a price

Had a fascinating chat with a friend of mine from Buckinghamshire. It seems that the county has a centre of Excellence for Epilepsy, the NSE's Chalfont Centre at Chalfont St Peter.

This centre can accommodate 200 patients. Under the Government's care legislation, when the patients first turn up in Bucks, they're paid for by their home authority.

When they leave the Chalfont Centre, most of them stay, living locally. This makes them "ordinarily resident" in Buckinghamshire, and as such they become the financial responsibility of Buckinghamshire County Council.

Experts have calculated that the cost to Bucks tax payers to provide lifelong care for these two hundred patients will be in the region of £100,000,000 - none of which can be reclaimed.

One hundred million pounds - that's a big burden on rate payers just because they have facilities to be proud of. Hardly an incentive for authorities to invest in excellence...

Bound for Bucks!

Travelled up to Buckinghamshire on Monday night, where I'm working for the rest of the week for the Improvement and Development Agency (IDeA) undertaking a Peer Review of Buckinghamshire County County. We've been called in to do a "quick and dirty" report on the Public Health unit, under the title "Healthy Communities".

It'll be interesting to see how they're doing, particularly since Buckinghamshire County Council has been assessed as 'Excellent' and given the maximum four stars by the Audit Commission.

With me is the Chief Executive of North East Derbyshire District Council, a Strategic Director from Staffordshire County Council, and two consultants from the IDeA. We have three days - three days to arrange and conduct interviews, write up our initial conclusions, and put together a presentation for the Leader, Chief Executive, senior members and staff.

If nothing else, it'll be great experience...