Labour's NHS cuts start to bite
The final scale of Labour's NHS cuts, this year, is starting to become clear. Across the country over 20,000 jobs are being lost, including doctors, nurses, midwives and radiographers.
Recently I met with Helen Willetts, the Regional Director for the Royal College of Nursing, to discuss the local situation. In Nottingham alone £60 Million of cuts means that up to 1,200 jobs will go and in Derby £15 Million of cuts threatens up to 400 jobs. At Chesterfield's Royal Hospital £7 Million of cuts this year means a freeze on most job vacancies and the possibility of 10% job cuts in each category of staff.
The first group to be dealt with in Chesterfield of course has been 133 Senior Nursing Staff, including Midwives, at the level of Ward Sister and above. Initially they were told that up to 43 were likely to lose their jobs. The recently completed and traumatic review process has instead resulted in 16-17 job losses with many others however having their jobs downgraded and taking pay cuts of up to £4,000 per year. Over the rest of the year the same review process will cover all other groups of staff at our local hospital.
On the 9th June I was invited to address a public meeting against the cuts, held at Chesterfield Library. Although this meeting was not organised by me and was supported by the Chesterfield and District TUC it was very noticeable that not a single elected Labour politician attended to express their support for the nurses and other staff facing the sack. How different it would have been if a Tory Government had been responsible!
Among many questions to emerge from the meeting was why a Labour Government was slashing NHS jobs in this way and would a Minister be willing to meet a delegation from Chesterfield? I wrote to request such a meeting. Three weeks later, having had no reply I wrote again, to be told two weeks later still, that Andy Burnham, Minister of State, would meet me but would not meet a delegation of local people.
The meeting was in any case largely a waste of time as Andy offered no hope of any change of policy. The stock Government response as to why these massive cuts are occurring has been that they are the result of bad management by NHS Trusts. I pointed out to Andy that this could not be true of the Royal which is one of the Governments three star Foundation Trusts and was classed as the best run hospital in the East Midlands last year. He agreed that bad management could not be the answer in Chesterfield.
Why then is the Labour Government forcing the Royal to cut £7 Million from its budget this year and another £7Million in the next two years?