£20billion NHS cuts will harm patients, doctors warn

12 April 2012

Doctors in London today demanded NHS spending cuts, which will see tens of thousands of jobs shed across the health service, be halted.

They called for the plan to make £20bn 'efficiency savings' over the next four years to be scrapped adding they would harm patient care.

At the British Medical Association's annual conference, the doctors called on the union to mount a campaign against the Government-backed target.

Dr Chaand Nagpaul, a GP from Stanmore, who is also a member of the London Regional Council, the BMA's largest branch, said the 'scale and pace' of the cuts is already creating 'strains' on the health service.

Ahead of several motions calling for spending cuts to be 'radically revised' at the conference in Cardiff, Dr Nagpaul said: "The scale of these cuts is bigger than we've ever seen before. The level of cuts is far greater and they are happening at a scale and pace that doesn't allow for sensible planning."

He said Primary Care Trusts - to be scrapped under the health reforms - have lost 'significant numbers' of staff, which has already had an impact on patients.

"The savings are having a major impact on London and the size of the impact varies depending on which PCT you reside in," Dr Nagpaul said. "Some PCTs are already heavily in debt so further cuts are going to have a very negative effect. Large numbers of staff within PCTs are also being made redundant.

"This is already having an impact on the support they offer GP surgeries. It's already creating organisational strains."

Dr Nagpaul said the 'main impact' for patients will be the 'reduction in hospital expenditure'.
He added in the North West London sector, there are now 85 'low priority procedures', such as tonsillectomies, knee replacements and hernias, that patients are no longer automatically eligible for unless they fulfil certain criteria.

"It is a radical plan," said Dr Nagpaul. "Patients are not getting the care they used to in the past."

He said some of the money that could be saved is being spent on organisational costs. "The structural organisation should cease," he said.

Over 6,000 NHS posts are to be axed across London alone as trusts struggle to meet the £20bn savings target. These include almost 1,000 at the London Ambulance Service and hundreds at St George's Hospital, Kingston Hospital, Barts and The London NHS Trust and at the Royal Free.

The concerns raised by the doctors were echoed by the BMA's leader Dr Hamish Meldrum who said NHS chiefs are in danger of making 'slash and burn' cuts and arranging 'knee-jerk closures' in the drive to save money.

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