CHANCELLOR Osborne oversaw the creation of a ‘Star Chamber’ yesterday, to force through the planned £60 billion a year spending cuts.
Osborne told the House of Commons that after inheriting the largest budget deficit in the EU the country faced a ‘serious national challenge’.
He added: ‘After all, it is our collective national debt’.
All ministries and government departments would have to appear before the ‘Star Chamber’ to receive their ‘savage cuts’ orders.
The Treasury published a document calling for members of the public, business groups, trade unions and think-tanks to join the debate aimed at producing a ‘fundamental re-evaluation of the role of government’.
The document called for businesses, voluntary groups and charities to provide services that are currently provided by the state and which are due to be privatised with millions sacked.
The Star Chamber will comprise senior ministers and ‘the best and the brightest civil servants’ who will aim to challenge and overturn existing Whitehall spending patterns.
Ministers would be asked to consider whether services currently provided by their departments could be better supplied by charities.
Any minister who agrees to make cuts in his department’s spending will be invited to sit on the committee and give his or her verdict on their colleagues’ spending plans.
While Osborne was announcing his plans, Health Secretary Andrew Lansley declared that hospitals will face financial penalties if patients are readmitted as an emergency within 30 days of being discharged, under new government plans.
Lansley said hospitals in England will be paid for initial treatment but not paid again if a patient is brought back in with a related problem.
Commenting on the proposals Dr Hamish Meldrum, Chairman of Council at the BMA, said: ‘Simply using financial disincentives is likely to result in unforeseen consequences.
‘One risk is that we get a situation where decisions about discharge are based not on a judgement about what is best for the patient, but on an attempt to avoid additional costs.
‘This could result in patients being kept in hospital longer than necessary, when it might be better for them to be at home.
‘The best outcomes are always likely to be achieved when primary and secondary care professionals are allowed to work together to achieve what is best for patients.
‘We need models of healthcare that encourage co-operation rather than competition.
‘We should remember that there can be a range of reasons that a patient is readmitted, many of them beyond the control of the hospital.’
