Job losses and £ 6m in cuts for community health service

SERVICES will be cut and jobs lost as the detail of another £ 6 million worth of cuts to community health services is revealed.

The total savings will see a reduction of more than 100 staff across a range of services.

The biggest cuts come in the hospital at home service which is being axed.

It means a reduction of 27 posts and a saving of £ 1.7m over two years.

The hospital at home initiative enables people to be cared for at home to avoid the need for admission to hospital.

Despite being considered a success it is being axed as it needs even more investment for it to be sustainable.

Sharon Wearing, chief finance officer, stated: “Whilst all the evidence points to the success of this model in terms of patient outcomes and positive feedback from patients, relatives and GPs, to sustain the safe and effective extension of the current and any future service, significantly more investment is required which is currently not available from HSCPs, the Scottish Government or the health board.”

As a result, it means 15 patients will need to be admitted to hospital routinely for treatment.

Other cuts include a “review of community health staff within Children and Families” to save £ 1.27m.

Cuts to the care home nursing team will see six posts lost, another 14 posts in health admin services and a number of other roles in adult mental health, addictions and asylum support teams.

In a report to the IJB for its meeting next week, Ms Wearing said: “Our priority has been to protect core services which deliver care to those who are acutely unwell, support prevention measures and deliver evidenced impact in improving the health and wellbeing of those who access services.

“The outcome is that we have proposals which will result in reducing services which are not core services to enable us to support those services which have the greatest impact in relation to improving the health and wellbeing of those who access these services.”

Union leaders said the cuts will simply put more pressure on services elsewhere.

Lorcan Mullen, Unison Scotland regional organiser, said: “The cuts to NHS jobs are being presented for approval with much of the detail up in the air, and before IJB members receive detailed responses from staff based on consultation with the front line.

“We know that many of these cuts will create additional cost for the taxpayer, as other services are forced to compensate for lost capacity and shuttered services.

“People are already waiting far too long for treatment, and people are staying ill and dying before their time due to unmet need. Politicians must intervene to stop these cuts.”

The Scottish Tenants Organisation said many of its members rely on community health care.

Sean Clerkin, campaign co- ordinator, said: “The implementation of these shameful cuts to health services in the community and to social care will devastate the lives of the poorest and most vulnerable citizens of Glasgow. It is unacceptable.

“To eliminate the hospital at home service which allows severely ill people to remain at home with loved ones is especially cruel.”