NHS CUTBACKS

Mounting NHS deficits have been caused by political meddling and damaging policies, hospital consultants say.

The British Medical Association attacked the government's handling of the NHS as ministers revealed a big rise in the size of the deficit.

The deficit for 2005-06 was ?512m - more than double the figure for the previous year.

But acting NHS chief executive, Sir Ian Carruthers said the health service was improving significantly in all areas.

He told the BBC: "Waiting times are at their lowest position ever, there is greater access in terms of a bigger number of people receiving cancer treatment, and premature deaths from cancer and heart disease are reduced.

"And services such as stroke, mental health and care of the elderly are improving."

But the BMA said the government was wasting money on involving the private sector and management consultants.

The unaudited accounts for the NHS in England for the last financial year show that the total deficit was more than ?100m down on the mid-year projection of ?620m.

Paul Miller, chairman of the BMA's consultants committee, who addressed a conference of doctors on Wednesday, said money was being wasted by a series of initiatives.

He said hospital facilities were being left underused because private treatment centres, which carry out minor surgery, had been given a guaranteed numbers of patients.

Waiting times

And he also pointed the finger of blame at PFI deals, which use private money to build NHS hospitals, claiming firms had made money when facilities had not been built or vastly delayed.

Meanwhile, he claimed about ?1bn was being spent by the NHS on management consultants each year "without any clear benefit".

"Yes, bad management is a problem in some places, but the biggest cause is the interference from government. Something is going badly wrong and it is demoralising for staff," he said.

But Health Minister Andy Burnham said Mr Miller's analysis was "skewed". "It is the government's reforms that have delivered these improvements for patients and I find it staggering that Mr Miller seems unaware of these facts."

He added the NHS's annual report, released on Wednesday, confirmed waiting times are falling and the quality of treatment improving.

And Sir Ian Carruthers warned against what he describes as hysteria over NHS finances and job cuts.

But latest figures from the Royal College of Nursing paints a less rosy figure, estimating that 15,000 job cuts have been announced in recent months. This comes on top of the hospitals which have also reported closing wards and delaying operations.

The causes of the deficits are also set to be explored in a joint National Audit Office and Audit Commission report to be published after the government reveals the deficit figu

Over 2,000 axed in NHS cutbacks Mar 23 2006 By The Huddersfield Daily Examiner

POLITICIANS have accused the Government of failing NHS staff and their patients by axing hundreds of jobs at a London hospital.

The Royal Free Hospital in Hampstead, north London, is to shed 480 posts under plans to save ?25m in the next year, it was announced last night.

Hospital bosses said they would do everything to ensure forced redundancies were kept to a minimum, but they could not be ruled out.

More than 2,000 job cuts have now been announced at hospitals across the UK in the past week.

The Conservatives accused the Government of abandoning the NHS, saying Chancellor Gordon Brown had ignored it in yesterday's Budget. And campaigners accused hospital chiefs of "smuggling" out the announcement under the cover of the Budget.

MSPs of all parties have called for a freeze on hospital cuts amid fears of a political backlash.  (Evening Times 2004)

Members of the Scottish Parliament's health committee, including previously loyal Executive backers have demanded Health Minister Malcolm Chisholm delay planned hospital cutbacks until after a national framework for NHS reforms in Scotland is complete next March

Hospitals across the country have a black hole in their finances, caused by years of underinvestment.

?That hole has to be filled or we will see wards and hospitals closing, nurses out of a job, treatments cut and fewer patients treated, as trusts struggle to balance the books.

?As an immediate measure the government should row-back on its requirement for a two year payback period ? this is simply unrealistic. In the longer term, it needs to bite the bullet and wipe out the years of under funding with a one-off cash injection. This would clear the accumulated debts and give trusts a firm foundation on which to build a health service fit for the future.?

The NHS in Oxfordshire is being driven currently by financial crises, but the Labour Government is not listening.

Thames Valley 'Health Economy' already receives the lowest amount per head of population in the country. The ?34m deficit in Oxfordshire has arisen partly because of our excellent hospitals, which provide specialist care not just to the local area but nationally and internationally.

The Thames Valley Strategic Health Authority should have been managing this financial crisis at a much earlier stage. Now cuts are proposed across the board.

The Mental Healthcare Trust, which is operating within budget, has been told to make huge savings, with the loss of medical staff, the possible closure of the Barnes Unit for people who self-harm, temporary closure of one adult ward, closure of day centres and cuts in therapies to help patients recover from mental illness.

The Nuffield Orthopaedic Trust will close a ward. The John Radcliffe Hospital may entirely suspend operations for some non-urgent conditions such as varicose veins, hernias and ophthalmological problems

Third of all NHS trusts plan cuts, says BMA
By Nic Fleming, Medical Correspondent
(Filed: 24/09/2005)

A third of NHS trusts are planning to cut services including cancelling operations, closing wards and making doctors and nurses redundant, doctors' leaders warned yesterday