NHS: THE MONEY HAS RUN OUT
Ops axed or postponed across half of the country 2.5million patients had to wait over 4hrs in A&E Medics blast Tories for ‘disgraceful failure’ of sick
TORY cuts are leaving the NHS penniless, a health chief warned.
Dr Mark Porter said: “The money has run out. This is a disgraceful failure of our patients.”
Operations across half the country now face the axe due to cutbacks.
HEALTH professionals yesterday accused the Tories of wilfully destroying the NHS by starving it of cash it needs to operate safely.
They spoke out as operations across half the country face cancellation or delays due to Theresa May’s cuts, according to health charity The King’s Fund. That means many patients needing surgery such as knee or hip replacements will be left in agony.
Waiting times for A&Es and cancer treatment have also soared since the Tories came to power.
British Medical Association chair Dr Mark Porter said: “The NHS is now in a position where it has to put off spending because the money has run out, leaving patients waiting in pain and uncertainty.
“This is a disgraceful failure of our patients. Financial targets shouldn’t take priority over the need to provide safe and high quality care. Our health and social care systems can no longer cope without urgent action.” The Royal College of Nursing branded the crisis a “wake-up call” for the PM in the last week of the election campaign.
Chief executive and general secretary Janet Davies said: “It has been a political decision not to give the NHS the money it needs in recent years and it goes some way to explaining the 40,000 unfilled nurse jobs.
“It cannot be fair that patients in half of England will wait longer for certain operations, many in pain, as the NHS cuts costs. Some patients won’t get treatment at all as the postcode lottery in care is entrenched.
“Promises to increase mental health spending risk being broken while hospitals feel forced to sell off land just to stay afloat.
“In the final seven days before people head to the polls, every party must commit to the hard cash the NHS needs for treatment and safe staffing.”
Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh president Professor Derek Bell added: “This report from The King’s Fund is further evidence that the demand for services is growing far faster than budgets can cope with.
“Delaying or cancelling spending to achieve financial targets is not a sustainable model.”
The King’s Fund said the NHS is now so short of funds that 50% of clinical commissioning groups admit achieving financial targets in 2017/18 will mean
delaying or axing spending. More than 40% plan to review or cut planned procedures such as hip and knee operations. The disturbing report also revealed that in 2016/17 2.5 million patients spent longer than four hours in A&E, an increase of more than 685,000 on the year before. At least 362,000 waited longer than 18 weeks for hospital treatment in March, that’s up almost 64,000 on March 2016. And 26,283 patients waited longer than 62 days for cancer treatment having been urgently referred by their GP, an increase of 8% on 2016.
Almost 2.25 million bed days were lost as a result of delayed discharges, a rise of nearly a quarter on the year before.
The King’s Fund director of policy Richard Murray said: “With many CCGs [Clinical Commissioning Groups] planning to delay or cancel spending, local NHS leaders will be forced to make tough decisions about priorities and this is likely to have a direct impact on what care patients can access and how long they have to wait. This reinforces the underlying reality that demand for services is continuing to outstrip the rate at which the NHS budget is growing.
“Delaying or cancelling spending could impact patient care in a range of ways.
“It’s clear that some areas expect people will have to wait longer for planned treatment, while some areas are clearly worried about their ability to meet commitments on mental health.”
The Tories have starved the NHS of cash ever since coming to power, with the Lib Dems, in 2010 and alone in 2015 and it must make £22billion of cuts by 2020.
The King’s Fund survey of finance directors suggests that NHS finances improved ever so slightly over the final quarter of 2016/17.
But while progress has been made in cutting spending on agency staff, the report reveals the underlying financial position remains “gloomy”, with many trusts having relied on one-off actions such as land sales and additional central funding that was conditional on targets being met.
Dr Porter added: “While this report shows that the financial picture improved slightly, this was down to one-off, short-term, actions and almost half of trusts remain in deficit.
“What’s the plan for funding the health service when they run out of land and buildings to sell off ?”
This is a disgraceful failure of patients.. the money has run out DR MARK PORTER CHAIR OF BRITISH MEDICAL ASSOCIATION