A matter of life and death

With continuing pressure on NHS managers in England to both tighten their belts and privatise, the poor state of the pound and the uncertainties created by Brexit, it’s crunch time for the health service. Although health is a devolved issue, the NHS is also suffering financially in Scotland, Wales and particularly Northern Ireland as a result of Westminster’s austerity policies. A key difference between the devolved nations and England is that the latter falls under the Conservative government’s department of health – and at the sharp end of the cuts. Among numerous deficit-cutting targets, the biggest, and scariest, is the requirement to save £22bn by 2020. While health commissioners and managers struggle to get their heads around that, UNISON is continuing to warn of the dangers of trying to run services with reduced staffing and through outsourcing to private businesses. And the union’s concerns have recently been backed by MPs and senior health administrators. The shared message is that if we keep on cutting, it will be the services themselves that are in the red. The most notable pressure on the service at present comes from its new regulator, NHS Improvement. The body has just issued guidance to trusts and clinical commissioning groups for what it is calling a “financial reset” of their businesses – effectively telling them how best to live within their government funding. It specifically outlines action that must be taken to cut the trust deficit for 2...
Source: UNISON Health care news - Category: UK Health Authors: Tags: Magazine fighting cuts and privatisation in the NHS NHS England NHS funding cuts NHS Wales Northern Ireland Scotland Source Type: news