Prime Minister Blair yesterday told hospital trust executives at a Downing Street meeting that his NHS privatisation ‘reform’ programme will proceed.
That was his message despite hospitals in Britain announcing thousands of job cuts in recent weeks in the face of multi-million pound deficits.
The meeting came a day after West Hertfordshire Hospitals NHS trust announced that up to 500 jobs would have to go in the next 12 to 18 months in the face of a £28.6m deficit.
The trust, which runs hospitals at St Albans, Watford, Hemel Hempstead and Northwood, said it would cut back on temporary staff to reduce the number of people in permanent posts affected.
Blair alleged that over half of the predicted NHS deficit had been run up by seven per cent of trusts.
He claimed Labour had overseen many improvements in the health service.
But he added: ‘Despite all of that there is a real challenge for certain of the trusts, and for the system as a whole, as we introduce what is effectively a re-engineering of the whole system of the NHS in order to put the patient at the centre of it, and to introduce proper financial disciplines and accountability.’
His lecture to trust bosses came in the wake of a new report by the right-wing Reform think-tank, which predicts 100,000 NHS jobs could go.
Reform said: ‘The report argues that the logical conclusion of the government’s health reform agenda is a significantly smaller and higher quality NHS workforce.’
The report says that reforms such as foundation hospitals, payment by results and patient choice will mean greater emphasis on productivity and flexible working.
It adds that the result will be the end of national pay bargaining, a reduction in the NHS workforce of at least 10 per cent and greater investment in staff of all levels.
Report author Nick Bosanquet, Professor of Health Policy at Imperial College London, said: ‘Some people are going to be employed outside the NHS by independent providers. There are going to be changes because of the new cost pressures in the NHS.’
Commenting on the report Karen Jennings, UNISON Head of Health said: ‘This is a coordinated attack by private sector interests against the NHS.
‘It’s ridiculous to suggest that with fewer staff we’d all enjoy better patient care.’
She added: ‘We don’t want to go back to the days when patients had to wait for years in pain at the bottom of long waiting lists unless they could afford to jump the queue and go private.’
