NHS cuts ‘due to short-term crisis’

Government proposals for the NHS have been criticised by the Shadow Health Secretary, Andrew Lansley, as being more concerned with short-term financial pressures than the interests of patients.

Commenting on the news that a number of paediatricians are concerned that Epsom Hospital is to send mothers in early labour to a hospital 30 minutes further away, Mr Lansley told Channel 4 News that it is still possible, with the current level of funding, to offer emergency care when other conditions are “blue lighted” to specialist centres.

Mr Lansley said: “We have arrived at the point where last year there was 1.3 billion pounds of deficits that are driving most of these service charges across the country, not the patients’ interests or patients’ safety, certainly not the views of NHS staff.”

Epsom and St Helier University Hospitals NHS Trust recently announced that it would be closing a quarter of its beds and reducing staff as part of a financial recovery plan, the Surrey Advertiser reported.

Mr Lansley described the government’s suggestion that “better financial management” is required as “absolutely outrageous”, considering the amount of money currently being invested in the NHS.