£500m surplus has not stopped juggernaut of NHS cutbacks |
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As Patricia Hewitt proudly unveiled a massive unspent pot of NHS cash that could have spared misery for patients and staff, health services across England face another battering from cutbacks and closures. The thumping £500m surplus delivered in most of England’s Strategic Health Authorities follows months of painful belt-tightening, with bed and ward closures, job losses, frozen vacancies and deliberately lengthened waiting times, with many Primary Care Trusts insisting on a 5-month .minimum wait. for non-urgent care. London Health Emergency pieced together a snap-shot view of the cuts still under way as ministers cracked open the champagne to celebrate the half billion unspent - while insisting the crisis-hit services must meet tight cash limits this year and even tighter constraints from 2008. North Yorkshire and York PCT is carrying through a second year of cutbacks having axed 200 jobs and 90 beds last year. In the North West Westmoreland General Hospital still faces swingeing cuts and closures, while NW Pennines Acute Trust is planning to axe 10% of its beds in Oldham, Rochdale, Fairfield and North Manchester, and East Lancashire acute is seeking to cut 127 jobs to slash its wage bill by £4m. In the North East the County Durham and Darlington Foundation Trust is seeking to axe 700 staff to balance its books. In the West Midlands, Coventry’s brand new £400m Wallsgrave Hospital has announced a third reduction in bed numbers and a job freeze as it wrestles with a £15m deficit. In the East of England, Huntingdon’s Hinchingbrooke Trust faces a “rescue” package which amounts to a 2-year stay of execution, with a loss of 25% of its caseload, as Cambridgeshire PCT struggles with a £51m deficit. In Norfolk, after a year of cuts and cash savings, the merged PCT also faces a £50m deficit, and plans involve cuts in mental health and closure of 40 community beds. In Suffolk, Ipswich Hospital after a traumatic year of short-sighted cuts, must make further savings. In the West of England jobs and hospital services in Weston Super Mare and minor injuries units throughout Wiltshire are among a series of targets for cutbacks. Cuts are looming in Surrey and Suffolk, despite repeated delays in the consultation process. Sussex faces a loss of services in either Eastbourne or Hastings, while services in Worthing, Brighton and Haywards Heath are also under threat. In London, a major acute services review has been postponed, but it is clear that services are under threat in north London with the plans to close A&E at Enfield’s Chase Farm hospital, NE London with the sword hanging over services at King George’s Hospital, Ilford, major cuts aimed at slashing a massive £41m from spending at Epsom & St Helier in SW London, and a review pending in SE London, with Queen Mary’s Hospital, Sidcup the likely victim of cutbacks to tackle a local £65m deficit. Commenting on the ongoing cutbacks, LHE’s Information director Dr John Lister said: “The cuts we have uncovered are all ongoing and upcoming, drawn from press coverage since April 1: we know these are only the tip of the iceberg as Trusts and PCTs come under pressure to slash back their budgets this year, in advance of tighter times to come - effectively stockpiling cuts.” Many cutbacks decided last year are still taking effect, and many areas - such as parts of London, Surrey and Sussex, are awaiting the outcome of controversial reviews. “Patients are waiting needlessly, newly qualified nursing and other staff are being turned away from the NHS, and morale among existing NHS staff remains at rock bottom.” “What’s worse is that while these cuts are ripping in to the public sector provision, hundreds of millions are being squandered on pointless and over-priced contracts with the private sector.” “If ministers do not change course, Gordon Brown will go down as the Prime Minister who in his first year in office did the most irreparable damage to the NHS.” |
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