Trade unions and health professionals yesterday slammed as ‘very alarming’ and ‘staggering’, the government’s leaked draft NHS pay and workforce strategy for 2008 to 2011 for England, which predicts 37,000 NHS jobs will be axed this year.
The document says that the health service will experience a shortage of 1,200 GPs, 14,000 nurses and 1,100 junior and staff-grade doctors by 2011.
The Department of Health document suggests that by 2011 there will be 3,200 surplus consultants that the NHS cannot afford to pay, as well as 16,000 other health professionals such as physiotherapists, health scientists and technicians.
The document also suggested a new grade of sub-consultant be created to save money, as well as the increased use of temporary staff and short-term contracts.
It said there will also be volatility in the immediate future with a ‘sharp reduction’ of 2.7 per cent, nearly 37,000 jobs, in the workforce this year alone.
A UNISON spokeswoman told News Line yesterday: ‘It is staggering that so many health jobs should be facing the axe when there are patients desperately waiting for treatment.
‘We will strongly resist any attempt to cut jobs.’
The British Medical Association (BMA) slammed the plans to axe the number of consultants and warned there is already a shortage of GPs.
A BMA spokesman told News Line yesterday: ‘At this stage, this is a discussion document so it’s difficult to have a plan of action.
‘It’s very alarming and the BMA will use its influence to make sure some of the predictions don’t happen and put patients at risk.’
Dr Jonathan Fielden, Chairman of the BMA’s consultants’ committee warned: ‘To suggest that there should be fewer consultants, and of a lower grade, will destroy the gold standard of specialist care that patients rightly deserve.’
Fielden added: ‘The estimates on future workforce numbers are seriously flawed if the predicted surplus in consultant numbers is based on government plans to move some patient activity from hospitals into primary care.’
He warned: ‘It is also foolish to cutback on core NHS services while still moving easier work into the private sector at extra cost and debatable efficiency.
‘The government should be investing in the NHS by improving capacity, not reducing specialist skills by cutting back on consultants or by introducing an inferior grade.’
The Royal College of Nursing said the prediction of a shortfall of 14,000 nurses was part of a ‘yo-yo attitude to workforce planning’, with nurses graduating now unable to find jobs because of cuts.
The draft strategy, discussed by Department of Health officials in December, said nurses’ pay could be dictated by local market rates, and that unemployment could be used to ‘create downward pressure on wages’.
Chartered Society of Physiotherapy Chief Executive Phil Gray told News Line: ‘Cutting the number of NHS physiotherapists is contrary to the government’s own ten year plan for health service investment and reform, which sought to increase numbers working in the profession by 59 per cent by 2010.
‘This suggestion also flies in the face of moves to improve patient care and enable more people to return to work following an accident or injury by making greater use of physiotherapists’ skills and expertise in delivering timely, cost effective, quality services across a range of settings.’
UNISON is holding a protest against NHS cuts in Wiltshire on Saturday, as part of the campaign against plans by the county’s primary care trust plans to close the maternity units in Devizes and Trowbridge.
The event will start with a rally at 11am on The Green in Devizes, followed by the simultaneous launch of balloons at noon on The Green and in the Town Park in Trowbridge.
