Lansley's NHS bloodbath
Posted by Ian at 9 55 PM on Saturday, July 10
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THOUSANDS of highly paid middle managers will be axed in a £1 billion war on waste in the NHS.
Health Secretary Andrew Lansley will this week announce the biggest crackdown on red tape in 50 years to divert more cash to front-line care.
Mr Lansley will say thousands of unnecessary middle management posts will be scrapped.
Unnecessary advisory boards and other publicly funded bodies will also be dismantled.
Mr Lansley will promise to save £186 million from Quangos and £848m from cutting red tape from Primary Care Trusts and Strategic Health Authorities - the bureaucracies that run the NHS - over the next five years.
The government’s own figures claim the savings are the equivalent of 30,774 full-time nurses, or 11.75 MILLION appointments with a midwife or treating 49,661 people with new cutting edge cancer drugs.
Tomorrow Mr Lansley will say: “Bureaucracy ballooned under Labour.
“But we will not make the sick pay for Labour's debt crisis.
“So the Government is committed to increasing health spending in each year of this parliament in order to secure the care patients need and to meet rising demand, the cost of medical advances and improving outcomes.
"To do this effectively, we must apply the same disciplines as elsewhere in public services.
“The total reduction from management costs to at least £1 billion a year. Savings at the Department of Health will also be made.
"Every penny saved will be reinvested to improve patient care, meeting demand and driving up quality".
Over 150 primary care trusts and strategic health authorities will be phased out.
Tens of thousands of administrative jobs in the health service will be lost as a result.
GPs will be given £80 billion more to spend on patient care - cash that was previously spent by these trusts.
At present, funds are given by the Government to primary care trusts, which pay for patients from their area to be treated in hospital.
Under the new plans, GPs — who are currently not responsible for paying for hospital referrals — would receive the money instead and pay the hospitals directly.
But the loss of jobs could lead to widespread industrial action inside the NHS.
However, Ministers are ready for a battle with the trade unions, and insist every part of the public sector will have to make sacrifices as the government struggles to pay off Britain’s £155 billion deficit.