Concerned over trust’s hodge-podge measures
IF this pandemic has taught us anything it is that having an NHS that is operating just at the brink of its capacity at all times is not tenable.
Looking at the plans proposed for Leicester by NHS bosses, they seem to me steps further in this direction, cramming existing services into even smaller premises and seemingly removing “slack” that clearly does not exist in the first place.
Moreover, while I can see the point that, as the NHS trust put it in the consultation survey, the hospital system in Leicester has evolved without a plan, it does not seem to me that this goes any way towards addressing that.
If there are more detailed or farreaching plans than what has been made public, I would ask the trust to please make these public.
If closing the General were part of a cohesive plan of reorganising Leicester’s hospitals, I could potentially get on board with it, but I have yet to see such a cohesive plan.
What there seems to be is a hodgepodge of measures that seem to be attempts to make up for the loss of the General, and planning for a grand total of four years into the future.
Four years can not be considered long-term planning when it comes to health policy.
What the plan really seems to be is the plan to dismantle the NHS. The pot of money is of course welcome, but it looks a lot like a bribe when it comes with the condition of getting rid of the General.
Staff shortages is a reason quoted for closing the General, in order to avoid duplication of services across the sites, but the solution should obviously be to campaign to reinstall the nurses’ bursary, and to attract more staff with better wages and conditions – not to close it!
If local NHS bosses are really interested in solving the staffing crisis they would support the pay campaign for NHS workers. We must also ask why they did not support the junior doctors’ strike in 2016?
The plans proposed seem backto-front and short-sighted, and despite the funding may do more harm than good to our services.
Sofia Wiking, Leicester