by Seamus OBlimey » Sun Sep 17, 2006 7:31 pm
I used to to be able to walk to the nearest casualty dept.<br><br><!--EZCODE QUOTE START--><blockquote><strong><em>Quote:</em></strong><hr>The medical establishment has thrown its weight behind controversial plans to close up to 60 hospital departments across the country as the only way to guarantee the highest standards of care for patients. The Observer can reveal that the heads of the British Medical Association and the Royal College of Physicians have given their support to government plans for a massive 'reconfiguration' of hospital services, affecting every region. This will involve the closure of casualty departments, small midwife-led maternity units and children's centres in smaller hospitals. Although the £512m deficit facing the NHS is a driving force behind the plans, doctors are fearful that hospitals cannot offer safe services as junior doctors' hours have been slashed in recent years from 72 to 48 a week, and will fall to 40 a week by 2009, leaving many fewer doctors available to be on call, particularly at night. At the same time, patients are swamping casualty departments with relatively minor conditions instead of going to their GP, which puts smaller hospitals under huge pressure. The plans could involve the closure of some hospitals in towns where they serve populations of less than 250,000, with minor injury units taking the place of full casualty departments. There would be bigger emergency centres in major towns and cities. The leaders of both the Royal College of Physicians and the British Medical Association are supporting proposals to cut up to 60 different units, provided that it is not done before the right facilities are built up in the community. Ian Gilmore, president of the RCP, said: 'Leaving aside financial cutbacks, the pressure on medical staff due to reducing junior doctors' hours to comply with the European Working Time Directive has made it increasingly difficult to maintain full emergency services running 24 hours a day in many hospitals.' Gilmore, a liver specialist, is aware that the question of closure cannot be put off for much longer. Three years ago, the college produced a report identifying 59 units which were vulnerable because they didn't offer services such as intensive care, a cardiac unit, or 24-hour cover by anaesthetists. Gilmore said that the college wanted to use the previous work it has done to advise local health officials about solutions to the problems of finding the right hospitals to close. 'However, it is crucial that the balance of services remaining after reconfiguration does ensure patient safety and high standards of medical care,' Gilmore said yesterday. David Nicholson, the NHS chief executive, said last week there would be as many as 60 'reconfigurations' of NHS services, affecting every strategic health authority, in order to help improve care by concentrating key services in fewer hospitals. Nicholson said 'tough decisions' would have to be made about A&E, paediatric and maternity services. It then emerged that the Health Secretary, Patricia Hewitt, had met the Labour Party chairwoman, Hazel Blears, last July to look at political 'heat maps' which show where hospital cutbacks would be most controversial. The Conservatives claimed that they had seen leaked emails showing that the government may be trying to target closures in areas where rival parties have seats - a claim which was denied by Downing Street. James Johnson, head of the British Medical Association, said: 'We have talked for many years about the need to create large multi-centres which have all the facilities. The thing that has stopped it is political timidity because local politicians are terrified of the potential fallout of their local casualty department going. The public does seem to agree with the broad principle of larger centres and better facilities, but what people also want is an all-singing, all-dancing university teaching hospital at the bottom of the road.' He said that if Labour tried to protect the hospitals in its marginal seats, that would be 'disgraceful'. But there are concerns that 'stealth cuts' are already being imposed by primary care trusts which have gone hugely over budget, with day centres, wards and community teams across the country now facing closure. Mental health trusts are also bearing much of the burden of the cuts, although many of these trusts did not go over budget last year. Health minister Rosie Winterton told The Observer that it was fair for mental health services to share the cuts, provided they were not disproportionate. The prospect of a further round of closures has appalled some other healthcare groups. The Royal College of Midwives is alarmed that the plans may see the closure of small midwife-led units, believing there is a secret proposal to move more maternity services, run by consultants, into hospitals. Dame Karlene Davis, general secretary of the RCM, said last week that she was 'dismayed' by David Nicholson's 'prejudiced views' that consultant-led units were better for mothers and their babies.<hr></blockquote><!--EZCODE QUOTE END--><br><!--EZCODE LINK START--><a href="http://observer.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,,1874356,00.html">Guardian</a><!--EZCODE LINK END--><br><br>Now I'd need a bus...<br><br><!--EZCODE QUOTE START--><blockquote><strong><em>Quote:</em></strong><hr>HOSPITAL bosses are looking to hire two senior managers on salaries of up to £80,000 each – to think up ways to slash costs and axe jobs. The crisis-hit Mid-Yorkshire Hospitals NHS, which runs Dewsbury District Hospital, is currently around £14 million in the red. More than 90 jobs were set to go and unions had protested over the fear of compulsory redundancies. News that the Trust was prepared to invest heavily in two more highly-paid managers while at the same time sacking nurses and other trained staff has sparked fury. Union members this week staged a protest outside Dewsbury District Hospital as Trust board members met inside. Yesterday (Thurs) it emerged that the Trust had found alternative jobs for most threatened workers, most on reduced wages, though eight people were still likely to face compulsory redundancy. Public service union Unison, which has led the hospital protests, had balloted its members on industrial action but that has now been suspended. This week the Trust was advertising for a ‘deputy turnaround director’ on a salary of up to £73,000 and a director of corporate development on up to £80,000 a year. So far the Trust has slashed 450 jobs across Dewsbury, Pinderfields at Wakefield and Pontefract hospitals. Unison spokesman Adrian O’Malley blasted Trust management and said: “What is the point of recruiting more fat cat managers to manage less staff? “Presumably their job will be to get rid of more staff and cut more costs. Staff are disgusted.” On Monday almost 100 people demonstrated outside the Ridings Building, holding placards and home-made banners protesting at the proposed cuts. Unison branch secretary Alma Blackburn and regional organiser Jim Bell, who led the protest, had a 45-minute meeting with the board. Mr Bell said: “We didn’t learn anything from the meeting but yesterday (Thurs) we were finally told that the number of redundancies had been cut to eight and were given a list of names. No one received a redundancy notice this week. “We believe the number has shrunk because a lot of workers were offered the option of voluntary redundancy and have taken it, meaning large-scale compulsory redundancies are not needed at the moment. “People have also found alternative jobs within the Trust – often at lower rates of pay.” The union said it was most concerned about proposals to replace some A&E nurses with health care assistants after five casualty staff were put on the ‘at risk’ list. Trust chief executive John Parkes defended the appointment of the new managers and said the jobs advertised either replaced or combined other posts and were part of a “corporate restructuring.” He added: “These posts will assist with the overall turnaround.”<hr></blockquote><!--EZCODE QUOTE END--><br><!--EZCODE LINK START--><a href="http://www.thepressnewspaper.co.uk/NewsDetails.asp?id=791">The Press</a><!--EZCODE LINK END--><br><br>How long before I'm on the train? <p></p><i></i>
