Doctors, nurse and midwives bear brunt of NHS cuts

By Dr. Ananya Mandal, MDApr 10 2011

It is now revealed that more than half of the NHS posts being axed in spending cuts are those of doctors, nurses and midwives.

The Royal College of Nursing has also warned that hospital wards are becoming unsafe as there are just not enough frontline workers to look after patients or prevent the spread of infection. There are also fears that nurses are so overworked they are unable to carry out their most basic duties of care such attending to the needs of the vulnerable elderly.

According to the latest revelations at least 40,000 posts at hospitals and health trusts will be lost over the next four years as the NHS tries to make billions of pounds of efficiency savings. The RCN, which has been analysing data from more than 130 NHS organizations, revealed the figures on the first day of its annual conference in Liverpool. About 5,000 nurses are gathering at the event to debate key issues.

These figures come from the RCN ahead of its annual conference in Liverpool show that 46 per cent of these are nursing posts. A further 8 per cent involve doctors, midwives and other clinicians – meaning 54 per cent of posts cut are frontline workers.

The NHS had claimed that any job losses in the NHS will involve bureaucrats and backroom staff– so patient safety will not be affected. This new revelation has caused the morale amongst nurses to an all time low and many feel they are being prevented from doing their jobs as they are being “stretched to the limit.” There is also mounting concern over the Government’s controversial health reforms, the brainchild of Health Secretary Andrew Lansley, which will see GP’s take control of up to £60 billion of the NHS budget. Nurses say they have been cut-out of these plans and they are also worried the reforms are being brought in far too quickly, at a time when the NHS is under huge financial strain.

Mr. Lansley will be attending the conference but will not speak. It will be the first time in eight years that the health secretary or Prime Minister has not given an address to the nurses. Officials deny that Mr. Lansley has stepped aside to avoid being heckled by angry nurses – a fate met by former Labour health secretary Patricia Hewitt at the same conference in 2006.

Dr Peter Carter, general secretary of the RCN, last night warned that reforming the health service during a time of severe financial strain was a “recipe for instability”. He said that the cuts would have “catastrophic consequences” for patient safety and care, and could lead to increasing waiting lists and the return of deadly superbugs MRSA and C Diff. “Cutting thousands of frontline doctors and nurses could have a catastrophic impact on patient safety and care. It’s a myth that the NHS has been protected. People can play with figures as much as they like, these figures are real.”

Most of the posts are being gradually cut through natural wastage – such as people not being replaced when they leave or retire – rather than actual redundancies. But morale of NHS staff is also low as most have been forced to accept a two-year pay freeze, which is effectively a pay cut once inflation has been taken into account.

NHS chief executive, Sir David Nicholson, said, “There is no excuse to cut back on services that patients need when the NHS will receive an extra £11.5 billion of funding. The NHS does need to become more efficient, but savings must not impact adversely on patient care. We are clear that every penny saved from efficiencies will be reinvested in patient services. We also have 2,677 more nurses now than we did in 2009.”