NHS cuts are a disaster for Brent - Teather

1.48.48pm UTC (GMT +0000) Mon 6th Nov 2006

Sarah Teather MP and Lib Dem campiagners outside Willesden Community Hospital

Local Liberal Democrat MP for Brent East, Sarah Teather, has expressed her deep dismay at the latest information on Brent PCT's financial crisis.

The Labour Government's market-based reforms, which force local hospitals to compete with each other for funds, have been introduced at a fast pace and with little preparation or warning. Meanwhile, pressure from the Government to prioritise targets has led to hospital trusts overspending to meet them, and then being condemned for poor financial management.

Reports now suggest that the PCT needs to make further and immediate savings of up to £10million. Proposals to meet these savings currently on the table include axing Wembley MATS, Neasden Day Centre and downgrading the brand new Willesden Community Hospital to a nursing home. They are also certain to make massive budgetary cuts to joint work with the council in Health and Social care.

Liberal Democrat MP for Brent East Sarah Teather said:

"I am absolutely horrified at the nature and scale of these cuts.

"Patricia Hewitt and the Labour Government are holding a gun to the head of Brent Primary Care Trust. In turn the PCT are trying to offload their financial crisis onto the council.

"This is a national problem managed with breathtaking insensitivity to our local area. The Labour Government's obsession with targets has directly led to PCTs overspending to meet them.

"There can be no doubt that savings of this size will have a devastating impact on patient care in Brent. The Government must guarantee that Brent patients will not pay the cost of their financial mismanagement."

Notes to editors:

Despite investment in the NHS since Labour came to power, the NHS has a final audited deficit for 2005-6 of £547 million, and the number of organisations in deep debt has more than trebled in the last year. The knock on effect on the local health economy is severe, with hospitals being pitted against each other in a struggle to survive the onset of cuts.

The Government repeatedly claims that heavy debt will not affect patient care. Yet just this year, there have been thousands of posts cut and many ward closures reported. In June 2006, acting Chief Executive of the NHS, Sir Ian Carruthers, said that he could not rule out the closure of whole hospitals.

The hectic pace of NHS reform, means that hospital trusts and managers do not have the time and stability to effectively plan their services. The financial framework for 2006/07 was radically changed by "top-slicing" of Trust budgets just weeks before the start of the financial year, whilst the "tariffs" payable were still being negotiated after the financial year had begun.

Market-based reforms, which have forced hospitals to compete with each other, have been introduced at a fast pace with little preparation or warning. Specialist services such as children's hospitals have been suffering under the system of payment by results - a fact the government has now recognised by delaying its expansion.

The Government has forced PCTs to prioritise centrally set targets, and then condemned Trusts for poor financial management when they overspend to meet them.