HOSPITAL TREATMENT ALERT IN £8BN CRISIS
Cuts warning from NHS chief as Tories ‘renege on pandemic vow’
HOSPITAL chiefs fear they may be forced to cut treatments if ministers fail to stump up the cash they promised to cover the costs of Covid-19.
NHS trusts are facing an £8billion shortfall for the next six months.
And they say the Tories may renege on their vow to plug the gap and instead “rob mainstream health budgets”, leaving some non-Covid care starved of cash.
It comes after the Government proposed a below-inflation 1% staff pay rise – despite documents showing it had previous planned on a 2.1% increase.
Chris Hopson, head of NHS Providers which represents trusts, said: “There is no agreement on the NHS 2021/22 budget, 24 days before the financial year starts. This is despite the Chancellor and
Prime Minister’s assurances the NHS would get what it needs to fight Covid.
“Trusts are worried they may have to start planning cuts to frontline services from April 1 unless negotiations are concluded satisfactorily this week.
“The Government is clearly looking for other ways to meet those costs including robbing mainstream NHS budgets.”
He added: “The NHS still has 15 hospitals worth of Covid inpatients and critical care massively stretched.”
There are 4.5 million people currently on waiting lists, including 224,000 who have been waiting over a year, 150 times more than before the pandemic.
Health managers warned separately yesterday a further six million people needing treatments, such as hip replacements and cataract removals, could be on “hidden” waiting lists.
GP referrals plunged 30% last year, meaning an estimated 5.9 million patients are CONCERNS yet to come forward. And nearly half of those with cancer “red-flag” symptoms have not yet seen a GP.
Thousands more heart disease deaths are also feared after a 25% fall in prescriptions of key drugs and a 44% fall in scans.
The test and trace system was given another £15bn and Mr Hopson said: “They need to do the same for the NHS.”
A Government spokeswoman said: “We will give the NHS what it needs.”
■ Matt Hancock yesterday ducked an urgent Commons question on the 1% pay offer, sending junior health minister Helen Whately instead.
Shadow Health Secretary Jon Ashworth said: “I am grateful for the minister but where is the Secretary of State?
HALLE Berry is a real shady lady as she wears a tied-up T-shirt, jungle print briefs and cool heart-shaped sunglasses.
The Hollywood star, 54, posed in a top that read Kind People Are My Kinda People for the snap she posted on. Last month, Halle shrugged off concerns about ageing, saying she is more confident in her skin in her 50s.
And the X-Men star also revealed her punishing workout consists of “mixed martial arts, crunches and sit-ups”.
A JEALOUS boyfriend who killed his lover on the same night he proposed has been jailed for life.
Mark Brandford hit Kayleigh Dunning 30 times with a crowbar before stabbing her nine times while she lay in his bed in December 2019. The road sweeper, 49, had apparently asked Kayleigh to marry him that night.
But he flew into a rage when he found out the 32-year-old had messaged another man.
Brandford earlier sent naked photos of the cleaner to her employer and friends in an attempt to control and coerce her.
Simon Jones, prosecuting, said: “He was trying to create the illusion Kayleigh had a stalker and that was something he could put the blame on to cover up for the murder.” Sentencing him to a minimum of 23 years at Portsmouth Crown court, Judge Timothy Mousley QC said the murder was premeditated. Brandford, of Portsmouth, was also convicted of a revenge porn charge.
A SKIPPER was sending Whatsapp messages when his trawler sank another boat killing three anglers on board, a court has heard.
Instead of keeping watch, David Marr, 53, was contacting a friend as Marr’s 85ft vessel bore down on the tiny fishing boat, it was claimed.
Four Romanian anglers on board the James 2 began shouting and waving torches before putting their craft into a hard throttle to escape.
But although commercial scallop dredger the Vertrouwen missed it, a large wave sank the James 2.
Mircea Ilie, 40, Irinel Popovici, 41, and Traiam Dumitrache, 50, and Elvis Cojocariu, 45, who were not wearing life jackets, tried to swim almost a mile-and-a-half to shore but only Mr Cojocariu survived.
Marr, from Peterhead, Aberdeenshire, went on trial at Brighton crown court yesterday charged with failing to keep a proper lookout on board his boat.
The Vertrouwen, of Macduff
Shellfish, Peterhead, had been off Shoreham in East Sussex at around 12.25am on August 6, 2017, when the tragedy happened.
Prosecutor David Richards said Marr had been sending messages. He added: “He was not paying sufficient, if any, attention.”
The case continues.