Diane Abbott demands meeting with health chiefs to oppose London nursing cuts

04 Feb 2011
Diane Abbott MP, the Shadow Minister for Public Health, is demanding a meeting with London health chiefs to appeal against plans to axe 250 London nursing jobs, including 630 jobs at Barts and the London NHS Trust.

Leaked documents show that hundreds of nursing jobs are set to be axed at one of London's flagship hospital trusts.

Labour shadow health minister Diane Abbott said:

"These cuts will be a disaster.  It will mean patient care will suffer, nurses disappearing from wards, waiting lists creeping up and bed shortages. 

We must oppose these plans.

Before the election, David Cameron promised that the NHS was one of his biggest priorities. This is turning out to be one of his biggest broken promises.

These job cuts, alongside the huge upheaval of the £3 billion pound NHS reorganisation, as well as Cameron’s decision to renege on the promise to provide 3000 new midwives, will place a huge train on patient care.’

At least half of the posts being axed will be in nursing, clinical or diagnostic areas. Thousands more are expected to go at other London hospitals as part of a 20 per cent efficiency drive by 2014/15. 

The cuts at the trust, which include Barts in the City, the Royal London in Whitechapel and The London Chest Hospital in Bethnal Green, include:

Reducing the number of nursing posts by 258 to save £11.3million. 

Cutting the number of four-hour sessions worked by consultants by at least 550 a year to save £4.7million.

100 fewer in-patient beds.

Axing 83 clinical and diagnostic posts to save £4.3million.

Scrapping about 220 administrative posts to save £5.2million.

Cutting at least 70 in corporate directorates, including human resources and IT, as part of £9.9million savings.

The trust aims to save £56million over two years. Chief executive Peter Morris said the reforms were needed to cope with the growing demand of expensive technology, drugs, the ageing population and public health problems such as obesity. The proposals went out for consultation this week.

This latest news follows the announcement that David Cameron has dropped his election pledge to increase midwife numbers by 3,000, as well as the controversy surrounding the Tory-led Government’s plans for top down NHS reorganisations. The reorganisation, debated this week in the second reading of the Health and Social Care Bill, will cost £3bn at a time when the NHS has to make unprecedented efficiency savings of £20bn.


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