Nurses face cull in plan to use cheaper staff

THE NHS is drawing up plans to replace nurses with cheaper staff, despite the Government insisting that new roles will be used to boost staff numbers, new plans show.

Health service managers in charge of services in Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire and Berkshire West aim to save more than £30 million by using more “generic support workers” and healthcare assistants while cutting back on highly qualified nurses.

The four year plan – one of 44 being drawn up around the country – follows research published by the BMJ this week that linked increased reliance on nursing assistants to a sharp rise in risk of death. The study raised questions about gov- ernment plans to introduce 2,000 nursing associate roles across England.

The Department of Health says such roles will be used to boost numbers, not replace more skilled staff. But the local NHS plan, disclosed in Health Service Journal ( HSJ), suggests otherwise.

It comes amid the most severe financial crisis in the history of the NHS, with quarterly figures today expected to show a continued deficit and a swath of missed performance targets.

A leaked email from regulator NHS Providers reveals hospitals have been told they will only have a chance of receiving financial bailouts if they can show that suppliers are about to cut them off.

Sally Gainsbury, senior policy analyst at the Nuffield Trust, told HSJ the situation was “really worrying” and inevitable given that hospital costs were not keeping pace with income.

NHS Providers chief executive Chris Hopson said: “There is now a clear gap between what the NHS is being asked to deliver and the funding available.”