Patient care is suffering in NHS cash cuts
Forcing trusts to break even too quickly will compromise patient care, chief executives have warned this week. Speaking in parliament in January, health secretary Patricia Hewitt told MPs that actions to deliver organisational turnaround will ‘never compromise patient care’. But chief executives said they could not make the savings demanded of them for 2006-07 without an impact on the quality of care delivered.
Many trusts are still locked in negotiations with strategic health authorities about whether they can have longer to deal with deficits dating back many years.
Hillingdon primary care trust chief executive Ian Ayres said he had received only the ‘standard Department of Health instruction’ for 2006-07, which is for recurrent balance and to pay back historic debts; the total for his PCT is £58m.
When asked whether a demand to break even would affect patient care, Mr Ayres admitted: ‘Of course it will. I cannot see how we can take a sum like that out without it affecting services. It is about minimising the impact on patient care.
‘Our total budget is around £280m. If you have got to take £58m out of that in one year there isn’t enough slack in the system or that amount of inefficiency. But we would not do it without discussion with our partners, stakeholders and the appropriate consultation.’
Mr Ayres, who took over at Hillingdon two weeks ago, added: ‘Nobody likes working in an organisation with this sort of deficit - this is not what people want to deal with day to day.’
Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital trust chief executive Tom Taylor said the challenges for his organisation were about addressing a whole ‘gamut’ of issues - including workforce and service duplication - to balance a £31m deficit. ‘But there isn’t a quick fix,’ he added.
East Kent Hospitals trust chief executive David Astley urged politicians to back trusts over service reconfiguration. ‘People are up for making difficult decisions. It is an opportunity to deal with issues that have possibly been deferred for some years.’
Another chief executive predicted a turbulent year if trusts were required to settle historic as well as in-year debts, ‘making a very tough situation an impossible one’.
He added that demanding trusts to move so quickly would lead to them losing the ‘good will and understanding’ of staff: ‘It will include significant union disputes, a lack of preparedness to support changes in the way services are delivered, and may involve some national protests.’ He said it could not be done without compromising patient care.
Shadow health secretary Andrew Lansley said patients would ultimately be the victims of a ‘boom and bust’ policy.
http://www.hsj.co.uk/nav?page=hsj.news.story&resource=4605887
Many trusts are still locked in negotiations with strategic health authorities about whether they can have longer to deal with deficits dating back many years.
Hillingdon primary care trust chief executive Ian Ayres said he had received only the ‘standard Department of Health instruction’ for 2006-07, which is for recurrent balance and to pay back historic debts; the total for his PCT is £58m.
When asked whether a demand to break even would affect patient care, Mr Ayres admitted: ‘Of course it will. I cannot see how we can take a sum like that out without it affecting services. It is about minimising the impact on patient care.
‘Our total budget is around £280m. If you have got to take £58m out of that in one year there isn’t enough slack in the system or that amount of inefficiency. But we would not do it without discussion with our partners, stakeholders and the appropriate consultation.’
Mr Ayres, who took over at Hillingdon two weeks ago, added: ‘Nobody likes working in an organisation with this sort of deficit - this is not what people want to deal with day to day.’
Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital trust chief executive Tom Taylor said the challenges for his organisation were about addressing a whole ‘gamut’ of issues - including workforce and service duplication - to balance a £31m deficit. ‘But there isn’t a quick fix,’ he added.
East Kent Hospitals trust chief executive David Astley urged politicians to back trusts over service reconfiguration. ‘People are up for making difficult decisions. It is an opportunity to deal with issues that have possibly been deferred for some years.’
Another chief executive predicted a turbulent year if trusts were required to settle historic as well as in-year debts, ‘making a very tough situation an impossible one’.
He added that demanding trusts to move so quickly would lead to them losing the ‘good will and understanding’ of staff: ‘It will include significant union disputes, a lack of preparedness to support changes in the way services are delivered, and may involve some national protests.’ He said it could not be done without compromising patient care.
Shadow health secretary Andrew Lansley said patients would ultimately be the victims of a ‘boom and bust’ policy.
http://www.hsj.co.uk/nav?page=hsj.news.story&resource=4605887
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