An analysis published at Socialist Economic Bulletin confirms that the Liberal-Democrat coalition government – the ConDem’s – brutal attack on the National Health Service is indeed a brutal attack. Some highlights:
To take the current FY, spending is set to rise by 2.0% compared to the spending in FY 2010/11, even though RPI inflation is currently running at 5.5%. In fact, the total level of spending on the same measure under the last Labour government in the FY 2009/10 was £103bn (Treasury, Budget 2010, Table 2.2, p.43). By the end of the current FY this government will have been in office for just under two years. Over that time spending on the NHS will have risen from £103bn to just £105.9bn, or 2.8%. According to the Office of Budget Responsibility, RPI inflation will have risen by a cumulative 10% over the same period (OBR, Economic and Fiscal Outlook, March 2011, Table 4.3, p.95). This represents a decline in real spending of 7.2% in just two years.
This continues so that over five years nominal NHS spending is projected to rise from £103bn to £114.4bn, or fractionally over 11%. At the same time, the OBR projects that inflation will have risen by 22%, representing a real decline of 11%.
According to the OECD health spending tends to increase internationally by around 1.5% per year over the long run, because of growing and ageing populations as well as the higher inflation rate of medical processes. If that long-run international pattern applies to Britain overt the 5-year period, the additional real spending required would increase by 7.7%.
The Tory-led cuts to the NHS are therefore nearly 19% in real terms compared to normal trends over the lifetime of this Parliament.
…
Much more than the real cuts in spending, which are not fully appreciated, the government has drawn fire for its plans to restructure the health service. It is intended that the Primary Care Trusts (PCTs) will be abolished and replaced with consortia of GPs to commission medical services, with much talk of local devolution of decision-making. As elsewhere the reactionary utopia of patients (or students) becoming ‘customers’ who choose their service-provider gives way to the reality that it is the professional entity which does the choosing (GPs, school governors, etc).
PCTs themselves are a New Labour half-way house, designed to continually introduce private sector providers among the rosters of legitimate ‘NHS’ service providers – indeed they were obliged to do so. But this piecemeal privatisation of health services- while maintaining the NHS brand – is insufficient for the Tory-led government. It intends a wholesale transfer of provision to the private sector, and a variety of mechanisms may be deployed.
These include insisting the GP consortia allocate to the lowest bidder, or rewarding them financially for doing so. The option of removing the NHS from British and EU competition law is also considered, which allows ‘social providers’ to be excluded from lowest-bidder regulations. Any of these would have the effect of allowing the private sector firms to provide services in only the most routine and simple procedures- but remove the equivalent funds from the NHS which would increasingly struggle to cope with more complex, difficult procedures or chronic conditions. The costs of the public sector would rise and be increasingly unable to cope against a backdrop of continuous and deep real cuts. The private sector could increasingly win a greater proportion of formerly NHS provision, leaving it to wither.
NHS news is still about listening but possibly not doing anything beyond listening. There is a suggestion that the campaign group 38 degrees is having an effect after compiling a huge petition.
I was mistaken when I wrote this yesterday: “There are claims that drastic changes are necessary to the NHS because of UK’s ageing population. I suspect that this justification has surfaced over the past few days and that previously alleged necessary change was presumed to be self-evidently true and no justification beyond “Doing nothing is not an option” was necessary.” Cameron presented proposed changes to the NHS on 17 January 2011. It’s reported that he “said the health service would start to collapse in two years without an overhaul to cope with the new pressures of obesity, an ageing population and costly new drugs.” That’s as well as saying that “doing nothing is not an option” and that critics should “grow up”.
Conservative election poster 2010
A few recent news articles concerning the UK’s Conservative and Liberal-Democrat coalition government – the ConDem’s – brutal attack on the National Health Service.
Health experts and union leaders took part in a panel debate on their vision for the NHS on the last day of Unison’s health conference today.
In a bid to pick apart Health Secretary Andrew Lansley’s Health and Social Care Bill, NHS journalist Roy Lilley, Unison assistant general secretary Karen Jennings and British Medical Association GP committee chairman Laurence Buckman spoke out about where the health service would find itself in years to come.
Mr Buckman said the “main thing I want to see scrapped from these reforms” was Monitor, the body that regulates foundation trusts.
“It should not enforce competition between people who should be healing the sick.”
He also warned that the Health and Social Care Bill would see the NHS turned into a purchaser of healthcare rather than a practitioner.
David Cameron and Nick Clegg pledged today to listen to concerns about NHS reforms but warned “no change is not an option”.
Launching the Government’s listening exercise on the Health and Social Care Bill, the Prime Minister stressed the NHS was the nation’s most precious asset.
But he admitted the Government had been “charging ahead” with the reforms and must now pause to address worries coming from many quarters, including patient groups, Royal Colleges and unions.
The Deputy Prime Minister accepted it was an “unusual” move to launch a listening exercise when the Bill had already passed its Commons committee stage but said it was “extraordinarily important” the Government got it right.
The pair were joined by Health Secretary Andrew Lansley in addressing about 100 doctors and nurses at Frimley Park Hospital in Surrey.
Commenting on the launch of a listening exercise and the creation of a ‘Future Forum’ to advise the government on changes to its reforms of the NHS in England, Dr Hamish Meldrum, Chairman of Council at the BMA, said:
“We see it as positive that the government is committed to listening. How serious it is about making real changes remains to be seen, but we welcome the acknowledgement that NHS staff and many others in the healthcare world have genuine concerns. The BMA will co-operate to get across the views of doctors, and to work to ensure we get the best outcome for patients.
“While we share the objectives of improving services for patients and empowering staff, we believe the Bill as it is currently written is taking the NHS in England in the wrong direction. We have particular concerns about the emphasis on a statutory duty to promote competition in the NHS – with the accompanying risk of fragmentation of care, the proposed new model for the delivery of education and training, and the detail of how commissioning will work.”
A two-month “listening exercise” in which medical professionals will be asked to contribute to a review of changes to the NHS has been thrown into doubt by a confidential memo highlighting a series of government red lines that must be maintained.
As David Cameron and Nick Clegg joined the health secretary, Andrew Lansley, on Wednesday to launch the exercise at a hospital in Surrey, the memo by NHS chief executive David Nicholson indicated there may be little room for manoeuvre in reworking the health and social care bill.
The memo drew a red line beneath the fundamental planks of the bill that are not for changing: GP consortiums, an independent commissioning board to oversee them, every hospital to become a foundation trust, and Healthwatch and primary care trusts to be abolished by 2013.
The memo said there would be delays in setting up Monitor, a regulatory body for bringing competition in the NHS, to which many object, which will slip to July 2012, and the abolition of strategic health authorities will also be delayed to the same date.
The memo is likely to be seized on by Labour which says that the “listening exercise” is more of a PR exercise.
A Tory grandee in the Commons has explained to me why Conservative MPs – and particularly the 2010 intake – have got the jitters over the Government’s NHS reforms.
I can reveal that the Tory wobble is the result of a lobbying campaign by a pressure group called 38 DEGREES, which has launched an internet petition which already has more than 252,000 signatures.
Never heard of them?
No, nor had I, until my grandee friend told me it’s the same pressure group that was largely responsible for frightening Tory MPs into demanding a Government U-turn on the forest sell-off fiasco.
The group’s website tells me it was launched in 2009 and its members voted this month on its next big campaign priority: “Work together to protect the NHS.”
A Cabinet show of unity over the Government’s controversial health reforms was undermined when the Department of Health declined to confirm that a “listening exercise” would change the plans.
David Cameron, Nick Clegg and the Health Secretary Andrew Lansley joined forces in an attempt to woo health professionals into supporting Mr Lansley’s plans to transfer 60 per cent of the NHS budget to GPs. But cracks emerged only an hour after their carefully-choreographed appearance at Frimley Park Hospital in Surrey, where they promised to “pause, listen and reflect” but insisted the status quo is not an option.
Downing Street sources endorsed Mr Clegg’s pledge that the rethink would be followed by “substantive changes”. Mr Cameron is expected to order Mr Lansley to give councillors a role on the GP-led consortia that will commission services instead of primary care trusts (PCTs)—a key Liberal Democrat demand. More health professionals such as hospital doctors and nurses will be added to the commissioning bodies and limits imposed on competition to allay fears about “back door privatisation.”
I consider this posting to comply with copyright laws since
a. Only a small portion of the original article has been quoted satisfying the fair use criteria, and / or
b. This posting satisfies the requirements of a derivative work.
Please be assured that this blog is a non-commercial blog (weblog) which does not feature advertising and has not ever produced any income.
NHS news is dominated by claims that Cameron, Clegg and Lansley are “listening” to concerns about the bill to destroy the NHS. Labour have condemned the initiative as an “expensive PR stunt” and I agree.
There are claims that drastic changes are necessary to the NHS because of UK’s ageing population. I suspect that this justification has surfaced over the past few days and that previously alleged necessary change was presumed to be self-evidently true and no justification beyond “Doing nothing is not an option” was necessary.
Conservative election poster 2010
A few recent news articles concerning the UK’s Conservative and Liberal-Democrat coalition government – the ConDem’s – brutal attack on the National Health Service.
“Good morning Conference. It’s great to be here with you in Liverpool. A great city and a great conference. Our Health Conference – the biggest gathering of Health workers in the United Kingdom. Our big society coming together from all parts of the land. Our people who work in the NHS because they believe in it. A coalition who do not believe in our NHS. But a coalition with no democratic mandate.
“A coalition reporting its definition of democracy to the rest of the world but not giving the people of this country a say in the future of our NHS. Yesterday evening I had the privilege of attending the fringe meeting on our NHS. Blood and Transfusion Service. A centre of excellence. Our big society at work. Millions of donors willing to give their blood for the benefit of others. Blood for the benefit of others. No money changing hands.
“Donating organs with no money changing hands. Now we are told that the transport and storage of blood and organs are to be privatised looking at ways in which “commercialisation can be exploited”. Private companies to come in and extract blood money. It’s unethical. It’s immoral.
“And I want to make it clear from this platform to our NHS BT branch representatives in the hall today, that you will receive the full support of our national union and our Conference here today. To anyone who is listening, this union, our union will do everything in its power to stop the privatisation of NHS Blood.
Shadow health secretary John Healey joined delegates at Unison’s health conference today in calling for an end to Tory cuts and reforms.
Hot on the heels of his attack on Health Secretary Andrew Lansley’s NHS reforms in parliament on Monday evening Mr Healey attended the conference in Liverpool to speak out against the government’s reckless, ideological and politically motivated health policy.
The former TUC campaign director hailed some of Labour’s achievements before admitting that the party did make mistakes in securing the best PFI deals.
He went on to lay into the government’s NHS reforms as being steeped in “chaos” and “confusion.
Unison leader Dave Prentis delivered a rousing speech to furious health workers today, vowing to fight tooth and nail to protect their pensions from Tory-driven NHS cuts.
The general secretary pledged to delegates at the Unison conference in Liverpool that he would support industrial action if pension schemes were targeted.
“If there’s money to bail out the banks, if there’s money to protect their bonuses, if there’s money for war, then there’s money available for the NHS,” he said.
“It’s the rich in the city, some paying less tax than one of our cleaners in a hosptial, who should be doing more for less.”
Hundreds of health workers swept out of Liverpool’s conference hall today for a lunchtime rally amid a fanfare of horns and placards demanding: “Hands off our NHS.”
Speakers at Unison’s annual conference called for solidarity in protecting the NHS and the crowd jeered “tossers” as the Con-Dem’s plans for cuts and reforms were attacked.
North West regional secretary Frank Hont introduced speakers as he praised the NHS as a “shining beacon for health care.”
He reeled off a lengthy list of other NHS workers stating that the service is “not just about GPs.
“If the health service was just about GPs we would be in a sorry state,” said Mr Hont.
“It’s also about patients and their families who depend on it and those who work for it. The NHS may not be perfect but it’s the best thing that the government in this country ever did.”
Health workers unanimously backed an emergency motion today to step up the fight against privatising parts of the NHS blood and transplant service.
Delegates at Unison’s health group conference in Liverpool were united in opposing any Department of Health dealings to hive off the running of parts of NHS blood and transplant service to private companies.
The plans have attracted interest from private firms Capita and DHL, which could stand to take over parts of the service including testing, processing and transport of blood products.
Transplant ward worker in Oxfordshire Stephen Parkinson said: “I’m proud to be working for a service that is truly life-changing and life-saving.
“It’s crucial that the service is one that remains for donors a gift of life given freely.
Government plans to reshape public health services in England are flawed and could ‘damage the NHS beyond repair’, the BMA has warned.
The association said the proposals outlined in the government’s public health White Paper, Healthy Lives, Healthy People, could lead to a ‘further fragmentation of the NHS’ and were causing ‘great anxiety among doctors’.
The warning came as the NHS Confederation said plans to financially reward areas that successfully reduce health inequalities could penalise the areas most in need of extra investment and, in fact, worsen health inequalities.
PROTESTERS at Doncaster Royal Infirmary donned jester costumes to voice their opposition to Government plans to reform the NHS.
Members of the trade union Unison targeted the borough’s biggest hospital to make their position clear to the borough MP Rosie Winterton, who was visiting during their protest.
Ms Winterton is also the Labour Party’s chief whip.
A spokesman for Unison confirmed the protest was held to tie in with Ms Winterton’s visit.
She said: To coincide with her visit, nurses and health care workers from Doncaster and Bassetlaw Hospital are protesting against the Health and Social Care Bill outside DRI main entrance.”
The protesters dressed in jesters outfits holding signs saying: “Don’t be a fool Mr Cameron – leave the NHS alone”.
David Cameron today warned NHS staff that modernisation of the service was “essential” if it was to cope with the demands of a rapidly ageing population.
Launching the Government’s “listening” exercise on its controversial reform programme, the Prime Minister insisted he remained “passionately” committed to a health service free at the point of delivery.
But addressing NHS workers in Frimley, Surrey, with Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg and Health Secretary Andrew Lansley, he said they could not afford to carry on in the way they were doing.
“The status quo is not an option,” he said.
At the same time he insisted that ministers were committed to taking staff with them as they made the reforms that were needed.
Ahead of this morning’s Cameron, Clegg, Lansley event on the NHS, it is worth reminding ourselves of what Nick Clegg was saying about these reforms back at the start of the year. On January 23rd, he went on the Andrew Marr show and had this exchange:
‘ANDREW MARR:
Huge change to the NHS just coming down the line. Was that in the Liberal Democrat manifesto?
NICK CLEGG:
Actually funnily enough it was. Indeed it was. We were one of the primary critics in opposition of what we felt was a top …
ANDREW MARR:
(over) I don’t remember you saying you were going to get rid of Primary Care Trusts and pass it down to GPs.
NICK CLEGG:
We certainly said we were going to get rid of Primary Care Trusts.’
I consider this posting to comply with copyright laws since
a. Only a small portion of the original article has been quoted satisfying the fair use criteria, and / or
b. This posting satisfies the requirements of a derivative work.
Please be assured that this blog is a non-commercial blog (weblog) which does not feature advertising and has not ever produced any income.
The UK Con-Dem – Conservative and Liberal-Democrat – coalition government have paused progress of the controversial health bill intended to abolish the NHS.
Nick Clegg – the discredited leader of the Liberal-Democrats who claims that he can’t remember that he was a Tory at University – has pledged to listen to ‘legitimate’ concerns about the bill. His words are very measured and unconvincing. I object to GPs being given unaccountable power to move money around from one pocket to the other BTW.
Labour Party leader Ed Miliband made an unsubstantive speech. The Labour Party was very slow to show it’s opposition to the bill and it’s worth pondering on whether they actually oppose it.
Looks like you get a different shade of blue whoever you vote for.
Conservative election poster 2010
A few recent news articles concerning the UK’s Conservative and Liberal-Democrat coalition government – the ConDem’s – brutal attack on the National Health Service.
“It all seems slightly dramatic to me, but I tend to hope that Lansley knows what he’s doing,” sums up what friends in the Conservative Party have said to me about the NHS reforms over the past few months.
This remains the danger within any government: to assume someone else is getting on with it and knows what they are doing. I remember a friend in the Labour Party once saying to me, as we debated during the lead up to the Iraq War, “The thing is I trust Tony. I assume he knows what he is doing.” Well the rest, as they say, is history.
Within government, within Cabinet, everything should be challenged and nothing assumed.
Ed Miliband has set out the three principles a Labour government would bring to reforming the NHS, telling party members the “status quo” is not enough.
The Labour leader said that “to protect the NHS we need to change it”, and offered the coalition support in changing the NHS if they met the principles.
He said he came to the debate as a “reformer”, adding: “A reformer of the state as well as the market”.
(04/04/11) “Let’s send a message to this government loud and clear: the NHS is our future and it’s not for sale.”
That was the rousing welcome UNISON health delegates received from service group executive chair Lilian Macer when she opened the union’s health conference in Liverpool this morning.
Recalling that the last time conference met, before the general election, “we were concerned, fearful, at the prospect of a Tory government. But few of us thought we’d be fighting on so many fronts, so early, with so much at stake.”
Andrew Lansley, the health secretary, has acknowledged that people have “genuine” concerns about his reforms to the NHS as he announced that the government would table amendments to the bill.
Amid fears in Downing Street that Lansley has failed to explain the thinking behind his reforms, the health secretary said he would use a “natural break in the passage of the bill” to offer reassurances that the government’s sole intention is to improve the NHS.
The Coalition’s revolutionaries appear to have gone into reverse. In recent months we have had a comprehensive retreat from the Government on its forests policy, embarrassing disarray on tuition fees, and now ministers are signalling a change of course on their NHS reforms. David Cameron and Nick Clegg have promised a “listening exercise” on the Coalition’s health service plans. Action is out and consultation is in. Ideology has given way to pragmatism.
It remains to be seen whether this is a prelude to a watering-down of the Health and Social Care Bill, or merely an attempt to sell the reforms better. The Health Secretary, Andrew Lansley, insisted in the House of Commons yesterday that the substance of the Bill will still be implemented. But it is clear that the Government is determined to ditch the revolutionary posture – “Maoist”, as Vince Cable memorably put it – adopted in the early months of the Coalition.
This change of approach on health, in particular, has a profound political significance. The NHS was one of the pillars of David Cameron’s modernisation of the Conservative Party. The Government’s ring-fencing of the health budget from the cuts imposed across the rest of the public sector was intended to demonstrate to the public that the Tories could be trusted with the NHS. But now Downing Street has woken up to the fact that the old suspicions about Conservative attitude to the public provision of healthcare are still very much alive. The medical profession has been uniformly critical of the Government’s health Bill and the general public is increasingly alarmed. Mr Cameron is pushing the pause button because he realises the seriousness of the threat to his project of detoxifying the Tory brand.
Small NHS maternity units face closure to improve safety standards and help economies across the health service.
Experts said yesterday that those maternity units lacking access to specialist expertise should be closed to protect the lives of mothers and babies – although such closures will mean some expectant mothers having to travel further to give birth.
Responding to yesterday’s investigation by The Independent into the crisis in maternity care, Nigel Edwards, the acting chief executive of the NHS Confederation, representing NHS trusts, said: “There is a broad consensus that there needs to be a substantial change in the provision of maternity services involving the downgrading or closure of smaller units to provide safer services. The changes are necessary in order to have appropriate consultant cover but it is important they are not seen as a cost-saving measure, though they may prevent trusts spending more.”
MPs have heaped more pressure on the government for its overhaul of the NHS in England by suggesting GPs should not be allowed to take control of the budget all by themselves.
The House of Commons’ health committee said they should be joined by a range of staff including nurses and hospital doctors to decide how funds are spent.
The move would improve accountability and decision-making, the MPs said.
It came as ministers plan a new push to convince people of the need for change.
The Government’s controversial NHS reforms are to be re-examined after the Health Secretary admitted some groups had “genuine concerns” about the plans, including the speed of the changes.
In the face of mounting opposition, Andrew Lansley was forced to make a Commons statement on Monday defending aspects of the Health and Social Care Bill, which completed its committee stage last week.
He said the Government would take the opportunity of a “natural break” in the passage of the Bill to “pause, listen and engage” over the concerns and bring forward amendments to “improve the plans further”.
Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg has promised to address concerns over the Government’s controversial NHS reforms as MPs called for “significant changes” to the plans.
The cross-party Commons Health Committee urged a rethink of the proposals, with former Tory health secretary and committee chairman Stephen Dorrell saying it is not a case of merely recommending “minor tweaking” of the Health and Social Care Bill.
One of the points the committee stressed is that GPs should not be solely in charge of commissioning services for patients. However, Mr Clegg said he believed it was an “uncontroversial idea” to hand them more responsibility.
THE flagship NHS shake-up is savaged by a Tory-led committee of MPs today – just hours after the government was forced to slam the brakes on its progress, to calm public fears.
Key aspects of the Health and Social Care Bill are torpedoed by the Commons health select committee, which warns of lax controls over £60bn of taxpayers’ cash and the risk of free-market competition harming care.
The damning report comes after Health Secretary Andrew Lansley announced a “natural break” in the Bill’s passage, to allow ministers to “pause, listen and engage”, to counter a rising tide of criticism.
Reacting to the publication today (Tuesday) of the report by the influential cross-party health select committee, Unite the union said that the coalition’s chaotic changes to the NHS are now so widely reviled they cannot be saved by the government.
The select committee has warned that the forthcoming changes lack accountability and that the secretary of state cannot abandon his role as the politician responsible for the performance of the health service. It also warns that the new system of GPs taking charge of both purchasing and providing care could result in serious conflicts of interest. The report is the latest in a long line of criticism of the government’s health and social care bill.
Len McCluskey, Unite general secretary said: “The committtee raises profound questions about the government’s competence when it comes to the NHS. It rightly warns that massive £20 billion cuts to health spending at a time of rising care demands is a fundamental challenge to the NHS’s operations. To then pile a chaotic, bureaucratic restructuring of the service on top of massive cuts can only be regarded as irresponsible. Far from improving our NHS this government is setting it on the road to certain ruin – and privatisation.
I consider this posting to comply with copyright laws since
a. Only a small portion of the original article has been quoted satisfying the fair use criteria, and / or
b. This posting satisfies the requirements of a derivative work.
Please be assured that this blog is a non-commercial blog (weblog) which does not feature advertising and has not ever produced any income.
There are conflicting reports whether the government is intending to delay or pause progress of the bill and whether there will be amendments. This uncertainty supports contentions that the coalition government is incompetent.
A few recent news articles concerning the UK’s Conservative and Liberal-Democrat coalition government – the ConDem’s – brutal attack on the National Health Service.
“The public have voted – it’s time for the Government to back off from their ill-conceived plans to sell-off parts of the NHS Blood and Transplant service” said UNISON chief Dave Prentis, today (4 April). The call comes in the wake of a YouGov poll that shows an overwhelming 72% of the public who expressed an opinion would oppose the use of private companies running parts of the NHS Blood and Transplant Service. Given freely’ is the ethical principle upon which the entire blood and organ donation service is built. It is unique and a principle which has sustained the lifeblood of the service. Dave Prentis, General Secretary of UNISON, said: “The public have said a very resounding NO to blood money. The Blood and Transplant service is an inspirational service with millions of people willing to give their blood freely with no money exchanging hands “Letting private companies move in breaks that link and taints the whole service with the profit motive. There are also very real dangers to the safety of the blood supply if the smooth path from donors to patients is broken. “Is nothing precious to this Con Dem Government – the NHS Blood and Transplant service is not for sale and UNISON will fight to make sure that it stays that way.” Bev Easton, UNISON’s Northern Blood Centre, Branch Secretary and a donor carer supervisor, said,
“We’re fighting to stop the blood and organ donation service being sold off because we believe that private companies should not make a profit from blood and organs donated free by the public. This would undermine the very fabric of the NHS with potentially devastating consequences for patients.”
UNISON is holding its annual health conference in Liverpool between 4-6 April Delegates are expected to back calls by workers from the Blood and Transfusion Service to step up the union’s campaign against the part sell-off.
Downing Street insisted yesterday it was pushing ahead with controversial NHS reforms despite speculation over another coalition U-turn.
Prime Minister David Cameron is due to launch a so-called “listening exercise” this week in a bid to reassure critics of the radical shake-up which will see GPs take control of commissioning services.
But government sources denied that the reforms heralded any fundamental concessions or that ministers were pressing the pause button on the legislation.
Private finance initiative firms are raking in guaranteed profits at NHS hospitals even as cash-strapped trust managers are slashing jobs and beds, health campaigners warned yesterday.
Health Emergency warned that some NHS trusts have even launched “asset-stripping” sales of land and property in order to bridge the funding gap left by the coalition’s £20 billion cuts programme.
But while the NHS is struggling to cope with shrinking budgets it is still making large payments to companies which built hospitals under PFI.
The 1,200 Queen Alexandra hospital, which opened under a PFI in June 2009, has so far confirmed that it will shed 700 jobs and 100 beds. Even further cuts are likely as it will still be left with a £6 million deficit.
PFI contracts typically last for 30 years and the firms that constructed the facilities receive defined payouts that trusts are unable to cancel or renegotiate.
Health Emergency information director John Lister said: “PFI means that hospitals face rising bills each year, regardless of their income.
Government plans to put NHS trusts in charge of nurse education and training decisions carry a high risk of prompting training cuts, the Royal College of Nursing has warned.
This and other concerns are set out in the RCN’s response to a Department of Health consultation on proposals to change the way NHS education and training is delivered.
The DH proposals include establishing “skills networks” in which NHS organisations will pool funds and make joint decisions over local education and training needs.
The college’s response says: “The RCN has some concerns about employers being solely responsible for decisions on ongoing workforce education and training. Experience has shown, time and again, where there is pressure on finances, that training is the first budget to be cut.”
The NHS is “haemorrhaging” nurse leaders due to government targets on management cuts in the run up to the transition to GP consortia, ministers have been warned.
Leadership from the nursing profession was “essential” in order to help change services and improve clinical outcomes, health minister Anne Milton told nurses last week at a meeting at King’s College London.
But Kate Heaps, chief executive of Greenwich and Bexley Community Hospice, claimed Ms Milton needed to have a “reality check”. She said: “We are haemorrhaging fantastic staff, because of this, as I see it, completely unnecessary reorganisation.”
Janet Davies, Royal College of Nursing executive director of nursing and service delivery, added: “Some of our really good nurse leaders, who will form nursing for the future, are leaving their jobs at the moment – particularly in commissioning.”
Labour leader Ed Miliband has urged the government to withdraw its “reckless” NHS reforms amid speculation that ministers will offer concessions to allay concerns.
In a speech today Miliband will slam the plans in the Health and Social Care Bill and offer cross-party support for replacement proposals.
Miliband condemned the proposals to scrap primary care trusts, transfer commissioning responsibilities to consortia of GPs and open up NHS-funded care to a mixed economy of providers as “wasteful, unnecessary and potentially very damaging”, in a letter to prime minister David Cameron last week.
He called for the Health and Social Care Bill to either be dropped or fundamentally changed, including by reversing plans to transfer commissioning to GP consortia, shielding the NHS from the full force of competition law and ensuring that commissioning decisions are taken in the interests of patients, not profit.
The government has revealed it plans to table a series of amendments to the health bill in the House of Lords, amid growing calls for a rethink from both within and outside the coalition.
The amendments will clarify plans for the role of private providers, include new details on NHS pricing and add additional rules on the transparency and accountability of GP commissioning groups.
The government is also considering a possible stay of execution for some PCT clusters beyond April 2013 – although this will not be directly addressed in the legislation.
The amendments to the bill are intended to stave off rebellion among disaffected Liberal Democrats, but government sources stressed that this did not amount to a fundamental change in direction.
The “breakneck coalition” has hit another bump in the road. David Cameron has bowed to the inevitable and put the government’s NHS bill on hold for the next three months while ministers agree on the way forward. The announcement of a delay will be made at a joint event later this week involving Cameron, Andrew Lansley and, notably, Nick Clegg, who the PM is determined to bind into the changes.
It remains unclear whether the delay is merely part of a “listening exercise” or a prelude to significant concessions on competition, the role of the private sector and GP accountability. What we won’t see is a U-turn akin to that on forest privatisation. Cameron is too personally committed to the reforms to change course now. The shadow health secretary, John Healey, has rightly warned that “simply doing the wrong things more slowly is not the answer.”
The Lib Dem opponents of the reforms, led by Evan Harris, issued a list of “essential amendments” last night, described as “the minimum” needed to satisfy the party’s members.
