Lansley forges ahead with NHS shake-up
Andrew Lansley’s plans for a radical reorganization of the NHS will go ahead, despite mounting concern over the cost of the reforms.
The controversial plans announced in the NHS white paper over the Summer involve scrapping Primary Care Trusts (PCTs) as well as the regional Strategic Health Authorities.
They will be replaced by groups of GPs – who will be charged with managing hospital budgets and strategic planning.
Mr Lansley said this morning: “GP practises working together in an area are already now shaping up to come together in order to influence positively the care that patients receive.”
Critics have argued during the consultation on the proposals that has been ongoing since the white paper was published that doctors will have less time to see patients if they have to devote themselves to overseeing the NHS bureaucracy.
The health secretary responded saying: “Of course some people are not happy about change but a very large number of people are.
“What we’re doing is bringing together PCT expertise, clustering them together, so that we have the management support.
“We’re going to have tight financial control. We’re going to continuously improve the quality of service that we give to patients, but we’re also giving space to this new devolved decision-making coming from the bottom up.”
Mr Lansley issued the full response to the public consultation in the Commons this afternoon, which he said incorporates advice from medical professionals innovating ways to save money.
In prime minister’s questions earlier, Ed Miliband attacked the prime minister for a ‘broken promise ‘ on safeguarding NHS funding.
Labour’s John Healey said: “He is in denial about the broken promise on funding despite the health select committee confirming the government is failing on its commitment to a real increase in NHS spending. And he is in denial about reorganisation despite the NHS chief executive saying the scale of the changes were enormous.
“David Cameron is breaking his promises on the NHS, and he should be straight with the public on the real terms cuts and massive reorganisation that he is putting the NHS through.”
Health spending is one of a handful of departments ostensibly spared from cutbacks in the spending review.
But the British Medical Association has warned that the costs of scrapping much of the NHS bureaucracy may soar to three billion pounds, while a funding gap means services will be under strain.
Dr Hamish Meldrum, chair of the BMA council, said:” Despite the government’s pledge to protect the NHS budget, it would appear that the sums are wrong and there is a now an additional shortfall of over £2 billion.
“NHS Employers has asked staff to plug this gap by hammering their pay even further. Yet there are whole areas of NHS expenditure that seem to have special protection, such as commercial returns on investments in new drugs and PFI projects, and it is estimated that around £3 billion will be spent on the planned reforms for the NHS.”
Intense concern also remains over the radical efficiency savings the NHS is being asked to make over the next four years. The health committee’s report released yesterday questioned the feasibility of the £20 billion of savings the government is expecting over the next four years.
The new GP consortia are set to come into operation in 2013. The thinktank Civitas has criticised the government for pushing too fast on replacing PCTs, favouring a more “incremental” approach.
Other plans unveiled today include measures to punish hospitals which force patients into staying in mixed-sex wards.
