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. 

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