In a recent announcement at the BMA’s annual conference doctors warn of NHS chiefs making “slash and burn” cuts to services in order to save money, saying any cost-saving measures must be well-thought through.

Medics at the conference raised concerns over how cuts were being implemented too quickly and without care.  In their warning to NHS chiefs they highlighted staff shortages and restrictions being placed on low priority procedures such as IVF. 

Dr Meldrum said, “The NHS was in the grip of its greatest financial challenge. There is a huge difference between adapt and change and slash and burn, between carefully planned reorganisations and knee-jerk closures and redundancies, between partnership working among health professionals, managers and patients and imposed top-down, politically-motivated diktat.”

Although the government has ring-fenced the NHS budget, once inflation and other factors have been taken into account such as an ageing population, the rise in the cost of new drugs, significant savings now have to be made. 

During the debates at the conference, medics raised their concerns over increasing waiting times for patients, staff shortages, and tighter restrictions on the range of services, as well as cuts to services.

With “slash and burn” cuts being implemented across the NHS, it is likely that there could be a rise in the number of job losses from within the profession such doctors, GPs, GP Locums and nurse jobs as managers tighten up on their finances.   

Recently, cases have been highlighted where local health managers have restricted a wide range of services from treatment of varicose veins and tonsillectomies to obesity surgery and IVF. 

Dr Chaand Nagpaul, a GP from North London, said, “Most doctors would accept that the NHS cannot do everything but said restrictions needed to be done with fairness and consistency to avoid a postcode lottery.”

Public health specialist Dr Lucy-Jane Davis pointed out that it was not just the direct cuts to the NHS that were harming the health and well-being of people. She said, “Reductions in services such as Sure Start centres and less support for carers were having a profound effect too.”

“The scale and speed of cuts will hurt the most vulnerable.”

Psychiatrist Robin Arnold, from Bristol, said, “His patients had the double whammy of experiencing the fall-out of cuts to both NHS and local authority budgets.”

“One of the problems was that managers had started cutting too quickly by trying to make the bulk of the savings in a year, when they had been given five.”

Mike Farrar, chief executive of the NHS Confederation, said, “NHS leaders must avoid such short-term tactics if they are to achieve effective change without compromising patient care.”

“Reforming the system so that it is fit for the future will require some difficult decisions. It is essential that NHS leaders and clinical staff work together to draw up the best solutions.”

A spokesman for the Department of Health added: “We agree with the BMA that the NHS should not adopt a slash and burn approach. We are not investing an extra £11.5 billion in the NHS so that services can be cut.”

“We have confidence that through improving innovation, prevention and productivity the NHS will continue to be able to improve quality and meet rising demands.”

NHS chiefs are at risk of making “slash and burn” cuts to services in a drive to save money, doctors say.

Despite the government’s commitment to the proposals made by the NHS Future Forum report the other week, it appears that the NHS is cutting back on services now when the target for cutbacks is over the next 5-years. 

With more cutbacks on the way this will not only affect patient care, but those within the profession such as doctors and nurses as the cutbacks could leads to further job losses within the NHS. 

As those within the profession prepare for future cutbacks, the demands and challenges within the NHS today remain the same –the quality of services and patient care needs to improve as the government commits to and invests more money into the NHS. 

With over 10 years of experience working within the healthcare profession, MPP Locums fully understands the daily changing needs and demands made upon NHS Trusts and Private Healthcare providers. 

MPP Locums is one of the largest and fastest growing specialist recruitment agencies in the UK. MPP Locums supplies professional health care and locum staff across the UK. 

MPP Locums is an approved supplier of locum doctor jobs, doctor jobs to the NHS under the National Locum contract starting 1st July for the next three and we are regulated by the care Quality Commission and The NHS Purchasing and Supply Agency (PASA).

Contact our registration team today if you want to be part of our growing medical specialist team. 

In a recent announcement by the Health Secretary, Andrew Lansley, the formation of clinical senates will play a key role in advising on major service changes as part of the government’s NHS Reform.

The formation of senates consisting of doctors and nurses – of whom there are expected to be between 14 and 20 senates, will cover wide regions of England. Under the government’s proposed plan, the senates will advise commissioning groups, doctors and the NHS Commissioning Board on “major service changes” and also whether local plans are “clinically robust.”

Under the proposed formation of senates, around 20 to 30 NHS hospitals in England may have to re-evaluate and re-shape their operations to ensure they are able to remain financially viable. The array of changes includes: the loss of blue light accident and emergency departments, the concentration of maternity, paediatric and other services on fewer sites. 

With possible closures and merges of hospitals across the UK, could lead to further job losses within the NHS such as doctors, GPs, GP Locums and nurses, despite the government’s promise to protect the health service. 

Mr Lansley’s proposal of the formation of senates will hopefully provide clinical as opposed to political justification for what could be unpopular closures and service relocations. 

In addition to the formation of senates, the department of health plans to introduce a new duty on local authority scrutiny committees. The scrutiny committees will be able to make challenges to any changes in services and to ensure both quality and finances are taken into account before any changes are made or appealed. 

Professor Steve Field, who chaired the group of 45 independent experts on the NHS Forum, which advised the government, said, “The service must grasp the nettle of reconfiguration.”

“That would be difficult and unpopular and mean fewer hospitals as care was moved outside them. But clinicians had to make the case for that in order to produce better and safer services.”

However, despite the government’s attempt to show more support for any changes based on clinical expertise, the formation of senates could see a rise in the number of bodies being formed before any changes to services can be agreed. At the latest count, these would include clinical senates, clinical networks, patients, health and well-being boards, council scrutiny committees; the patients group HealthWatch and more.

Chris Ham, chief executive of the King’s Fund health think-tank, said, “The results was a ‘Health Robinson’ creation which will create a traffic jam that will make change very difficult. It will be slow, bureaucratic system in which everyone has to be consulted by everybody at every point in time.” 

Furthermore, the proposed paper also highlights the power that will be vested in the new quango, the commissioning board. The quango is believed to need at least 3,500 staff and initially around 50 offices across England in varying sizes so that it can indeed carry out commissioning where GP commissioning groups are not ready to do so. 

With the creation of another quango and commissioning groups will inevitably create more bureaucratic wastage on resources at a time when the government is trying to implement financial restraint to the NHS. With further wastage on layers of bureaucrats, it is this money critics would argue could be better spent on recruiting more doctors, GPs, GP Locums and nurse jobs across the NHS. 

Since the government’s announcement to the independent review of the NHS Reform Bill just over a week ago, it appears that the government has listened to and acted to the report with the creation of senates. 

With the proposal to create senates, there is likely to be concern that this will create more bureaucratic levels when in fact it is efficiency and streamlining that is needed to make the NHS run more effectively for both patients and budgets. 

As senates are set to advise commissioning bodies on changes to improve the NHS, it is too soon to see how this will affect the NHS and those working within it. With over 10 years of experience working with NHS Trusts and Private Healthcare providers, MPP Locums supply quality health care and locum staff throughout the UK. 

MPP Locums is an approved supplier of locum doctor jobs, doctor jobs to the NHS under the National Locum contract starting 1st July for the next three and we are regulated by the care Quality Commission and The NHS Purchasing and Supply Agency (PASA).

As one of the largest and fastest growing specialist recruitment agencies in the UK, MPP Locums provides first class medical professionals. 

Contact our registration team today if you want to be part of our growing medical specialist team. 

After the government put on hold their controversial NHS reform plan, ministers have now agreed to make changes to the reform bill following recommendations by an independent review. 

David Cameron said, “Ministers had listened to fears about increased competition and more powers to GPs and would now slow the pace of change.”

The Lib Dems opposed aspects of the bill and their leader, Nick Clegg, said, “Their demands had been handsomely met.”

He said, “Ministers made no apology for pausing to get things right.”

However, Labour says, “The revisions still do not go far enough to protect the NHS.”

At a joint press conference with his deputy Nick Clegg and Health Secretary Andrew Lansley, Mr Cameron said, “Those who described the revisions as a humiliating U-turn or the listening exercise as a big PR stunt were both wrong.”

“The fundamentals of our plans – more control to patients, more power to doctors and nurses, less bureaucracy in the NHS – they are as strong today as they’ve ever been.”

“But the shape of our plans, the detail of how we’re going to make all this work, that really has changed as a direct result of this consultation.”

Mr Clegg, said, “He hoped the government now had a plan we can all get behind.”

“Change will happen, but it will happen at the right pace and that is why the arbitrary deadlines have gone.”

Now the government has agreed to the recommendations made by the independent review, the bill will now go back to the committee stage in the House of Commons to be scrutinised further by MPs. 

After the 10-week “listening exercise” – a panel of experts called the NHS Future Forum gave its recommendations on the changes needed to the bill, which applies to England only. 

They include:

Reinstating the legal responsibility of the health secretary for the overall performance of the NHS.
Scrapping the primary role of the regulator, Monitor, to promote competition – and focusing on improving patient choice instead
Relaxing the 2013 deadline for the new GP commissioning arrangement to be introduced
Strengthening the power of health and well-being boards, which are being set up by councils, to oversee commissioning and giving patients a greater role on them
Retaining a lead role for GPs in decision making, but boosting the role of other professionals such as hospital doctors and nurses alongside them. 

A National Commissioning Board will be set up to control budgets until GP groups are ready to take over. 

The Department of Health, says, “The aim and expectation is that all groups will take the powers on eventually.” However, this leaves the Lib Dems free to suggest that GP groups could ultimately refuse to do so. 

Despite the recent set-backs and the recommendations from the review committee, the government and many health care professionals believe reform is necessary to ensure the NHS is fit for purpose now and in the future as it has to deal with changes in society such as an ageing population, lifestyle changes such as increases in obesity, diabetes and the costs of new drugs, all of which have an affect on the NHS. 

Since the reform bill began, Andrew Lansley has come under continued scrutiny and attack with calls for him to resign as he is not fit for purpose as the Health Minister. However, David Cameron said, “He accepted full responsibility for what had happened.”

“I am every bit as responsible as Andrew Lansley for the fact that we actually decided we could improve on what we had already put forward.”

“I do not attempt in any way to pass the blame to anybody else.”

Labour leader, Ed Milliband said, “David Cameron should never have rushed into reforms that weren’t properly thought through and didn’t command the confidence of the medical profession.”

“The problem now is that he’s still going ahead with a bureaucratic reorganisation that’s going to waste billions of pounds.”

Dr Hamish Meldrum, chairman of British Medical Association, said, “The government’s approach during the listening exercise had been refreshing, but this needed to be maintained in the coming months.”

Professor Steve Field, the former head of the Royal College of GPs who led the Future Forum, said, “While the principle of putting doctors in charge was well supported, he had heard genuine and deep-seated concerns from many.”

With the government finally outlining and agreeing to changes in the NHS Reform Bill following the recommendations by the independent review committee – the NHS Future Forum, there are those within the opposition party and those within the profession that still want the reforms to be reduced further or even scrapped altogether. 

With the pace of the reform being slowed down and the bill to go back to the parliament, MPs will now have further opportunities to raise their concerns and give input to how the reforms should be. 

Now the review has finally been announced, there will be those within the profession that just want to move forward and carry on with the business of health care. As GPs and those with in the medical profession digest the recommendations from the review committee, they are now in a better position to plan ahead and ensure they are able to meet the demands of their practises and wards.   

With GPs still being involved in the decision making with hospital doctors and nurses working alongside them, those concerned will be able to manage the demand for GP doctor jobs and GP Locums doctor jobs more easily as they will have greater openness to the services they need to provide and the budgets that have to hand to do so. 

Working in partnership with NHS Hospitals and Private Healthcare providers, MPP Locums provides first class medical personnel across the UK. 

With years of experience in the industry, MPP Locums is able to provide professional qualified personnel where demands are needed. 

MPP Locums is an approved supplier of locum doctor jobs, doctor jobs to the NHS under the National Locum contract starting 1st July for the next three and we are regulated by the care Quality Commission and The NHS Purchasing and Supply Agency (PASA).

As one of the largest and fastest growing specialist recruitment agencies in the UK, MPP Locums provides first class medical professionals to both the NHS and private health care providers. 

Contact our registration team today if you want to be part of our growing medical specialist team. 

Is the golden age of NHS hospitals over? According to the head of a private healthcare body the answer is yes and that although some NHS hospitals may close, this could be good for patients.

Matt James, chief executive of the H5 Private Hospital Alliance, said, “That improved drugs and new technology mean that more people can be treated at home or at the scene of accidents rather than on wards.”

Furthermore, Mr James claimed, “That the extension of choice in the health service will mean that high-quality trusts will prosper, while changes will be taken out of the hands of politicians and bureaucrats.”

“There will be controversy and creaks and moans as the state-run service adjusts to patients having more power, but insisted the principles of the NHS would remain intact.”

Under the Government’s proposed reforms fewer patients should be treated in hospital where necessary, while GPs will have incentives to refer fewer people for outpatient treatment with minor procedures taking place in doctors surgeries.

A senior NHS figure said, “That the closure of wards may reflect underlying improvements in care and is better for patients as well.”

However, despite the Government’s attempts to clearly outline the benefits of reform and what the reforms will mean for the future of the NHS and patients alike, many MPs are opposing the reforms on fear of not being re-elected, as voters are concerned about loosing their services. 

Even some cabinet ministers are now backing down on supporting the reform, especially where closures of hospitals and wards may happen in their constituencies. They too are concerned of the implications of the reform and the effect it may have on their job come the next election. 

Currently opposition MPs are fighting to save children’s heart surgery units, despite fears that small centres do not always deliver the best care for the patients. 

The key concerns some MPs and the public have is that NHS managers are simply shutting wards to save money just to meet efficiency targets, without providing new services to the community. Some trusts in the UK have already cut 10% of their beds in an effort to save money.

Matt James, whose organisation represents General Healthcare Group, HCA International, Nuffield Health, Ramsay Health Care UK and Spire Healthcare, wrote, “The 20th century was the golden age of hospitals as bigger and better buildings were opened containing ever more sophisticated machinery.”

“This century will see things change. As drugs continue to develop and technology makes equipment smaller, cheaper and more portable, more planned healthcare will happen in our homes and more emergency care will be delivered on scene without a trip to hospital. The age of the huge hospital building which delivers any service from one location is coming to an end.”

“If we could design our health system from scratch today, there would be much less emphasis on bricks and mortar, and much more focus in people’s choices, providing information, and communicating with patients.” “

“While successful hospitals will adapt, some will close.”

“This is usually a source of protest and worry but if it’s done for the right reasons and in the right way, it doesn’t have to be. History has seen hundreds of hospitals open and close, but our health system keeps getting stronger.”

“The difference now is that patients, who will be able to choose their GPs to be treated by any qualified provider under the reformed NHS, will have the fate of hospitals in their hands rather than in closures being driven by bureaucratic and sometimes political decisions.”

“Popular hospitals that deliver high-quality services will succeed. Hospitals which put other concerns ahead of patients will come under real pressure and may close.”

“The important thing is that their success or failure will be down to the people who use them.”

“This would make the NHS trusts more like private healthcare providers, which have always had to live with the threat of failure if they let patients down.”

“This new system will be stronger and better for patients.”

With the NHS reform bill on hold, there are those within the profession, in particular those from private healthcare providers such as Matt James who are keen to see the NHS reform and allow private healthcare providers to compete for services that have been previously been supplied by NHS Trusts. 

With a more open healthcare services competing to provide better patient care could see the rise of more private healthcare providers and a diminishing NHS. Although this could give rise to greater financial efficiency, allowing more money to be ploughed back into the NHS, there is growing concern that redundancies within the NHS is likely to continue. 

However, the counter arguments for this are, that although doctor jobs within the NHS may go, it is likely that their skills and services will still be needed and they would migrate over to the private sector. 

Furthermore, with more GP consortia being formed to handled previously held NHS Trust budgets, the demand for GP doctor jobs and GP Locum doctor jobs could increase. Although there is still some uncertainty over the future of the NHS until the revised bill is announced in Parliament, MPP Locums provides first class medical personnel across the UK. 

With years of expertise within the industry, MPP Locums understands what are clients’ needs are and we are able to provide the personnel needed as budgets and demands change. 

MPP Locums is an approved supplier of locum doctor jobs, doctor jobs to the NHS under the National Locum contract starting 1st July for the next three and we are regulated by the care Quality Commission and The NHS Purchasing and Supply Agency (PASA).

As one of the largest and fastest growing specialist recruitment agencies in the UK, MPP Locums provides first class medical professionals to both the NHS and private health care providers. 

Contact our registration team today if you want to be part of our growing medical specialist team.

In the latest round of warnings over the government’s controversial NHS reform bill, leading doctors insist the reforms to the NHS should be scrapped altogether or altered significantly to win over critics. 

The British Medical Association says, “That the Government’s planned reorganisation represents an enormous risk at a time when hospitals are under unprecedented pressure to save money.”

Furthermore, the BMA claim, “That despite an official pause in the passage of the Health and Social Care Bill through Parliament in order for criticisms to be heard, many important changes are still taking place across England.”

The proposed NHS Reform Bill seeks to scrap the current two tiers of management and hand-over the current £60 billion budget to GP led consortia who will then decided how the money is spent. Despite the reform bill having not been passed by Parliament, GP consortia are being set up with the old Primary Care Trusts being merged and or dismantled.

In addition to critics to the reform from leading clinicians, Labour is also adding on the pressure to ministers to allow MPs to study the legislation again in detail.  Labour’s concerns are that David Cameron may simply try to engineer a “political fix” on health reforms as way of settling disputes between Conservative and Liberal Democrat MPs who are divided over this emotive issue.

Back in March of this year, The BMA held an emergency meeting, where delegates representing GPs and hospital doctors from across the country called for the bill to be scrapped. In addition to calling for the bill to be scrapped, they agreed not to end talks with the Government as a measure to ensure their professional opinion is listened to, as well as advise on how the bill can be amended. 

Despite the health profession opposing the reforms, minister still went ahead to push through the legislation in the House of Commons until it became obviously clear that the proposed bill in its current form would be rejected in the House of Lords, as well as Nick Clegg and other Liberal Democrat MPs beginning to voice their concerns over the bill. 

With the Government facing the possibility of the bill failing in Parliament, David Cameron announced that the bill would be put on hold. This would allow more time for ministers and a specially convened panel of health experts to listen to their criticisms. 

It is now looking like that the amended bill will see nurses and hospital doctors represented on GP-led commissioning consortia, while the powers of an economic regulator called Monitor will be watered down in order to quell fears of a full-blown market in healthcare.

But Dr Hamish Meldrum, Chairman of the Council at the BMA, said, “The message from doctors is clear and simple – the Bill must be changed significantly, if not withdrawn altogether, if the NHS is to continue to improve.”

“We are right in the thick of the challenges the NHS faces, and while change is necessary, this major upheaval is not.”

In its formal submission to the Future Forum, the leading doctors’ union says, “There has been no pause on the ground, where implementation of the proposals is proceeding at great speed.”

It calls for the role of Monitor to be changed from enforcing competition to promoting integrated services; for all commissioning groups to include clinical staff; for deadlines on hospitals becoming self-sufficient to be relaxed; and for the duty of the Health Secretary to provide comprehensive health services to be retained. 

In a speech to the Royal Society of Medicine, Labour’s Shadow Health Secretary, John Healey, will say: “David Cameron is a PR man looking for a PR answer. He must accept the problem is not the presentation of his NHS plans but the full-blown free-market ideology behind them.”

“The risk is that the Prime Minister decides on a political fix to deal with divisions in his Government not the dangers to our NHS.”

As the debate over the controversial NHS reform bill continues, there are those within the profession who are clearly against the bill in its current form. There is consensus within the profession that the NHS does need to be reformed, but to what extent and at what cost is the major sticking point. 

The key criticisms of the reform is that the NHS will be competition led based on the lowest possible cost, with patient care suffering, as well as concerns that more doctor jobs and nurse jobs could go as the NHS goes through reforms at a time when cutbacks are being implemented. 

Until the Government completes its listening exercise, the public and those within the profession will have to wait and see how the reforms will affect them. As hospitals across the UK continue to deliver patient care with budgets being cut, MPP Locums works in partnership with these NHS Trusts. MPP Locums provides first class medical personnel where the demands are needed. 

As one of the largest and fastest growing specialist recruitment agencies in the UK, MPP Locums provides first class medical professionals to both the NHS and private health care providers. 

MPP Locums is an approved supplier of locum doctor jobs, doctor jobs to the NHS under the National Locum contract starting 1st July for the next three and we are regulated by the care Quality Commission and The NHS Purchasing and Supply Agency (PASA).

Contact our registration team today if you want to be part of our growing medical specialist team.