Graham reports back from Friends of Scholes Park meeting
Cheadle and Gatley Liberal Democrats
Demand more Learn more
Graham reports back from Friends of Scholes Park meeting
Gatley's Lucy Boxes
Sign up for weekly emails
A grand a day to make hospital cuts
by Lib Dem Team on 12 October, 2016
Iain’s opinion piece in the Stockport Mail:
Ten years ago the staff at Wythenshawe Hospital saved my life. As my children have grown, the Roberts family have been regular visitors with the usual variety of broken limbs and other injuries and illnesses. I’ve nothing but praise for the staff, who do a fantastic job.
But it’s a sign of the times that the hospital has paid consultancy firm KPMG more than £2 million – not to improve care but to help them make cuts. Like nearly every hospital, the money is running out.
Not all the changes make sense. Last year, when renewing an outpatients appointment, I would queue at the desk, agree a date with the staff member and be given a piece of card with the appointment written down. Quick, easy and simple. That’s now changed.
Last month I queued up at the desk as usual. “We’ll send you a letter with the appointment.” I was told. Fair enough. But the letter, when it arrived in the post, didn’t have my appointment details. It had a number I needed to call. I got through on the seventh attempt, waited on hold for 25 minutes and finally got to make my appointment. Then they sent me a second letter through the post to confirm it.
It could be that, in some way I can’t see, this is saving money. I’m not convinced. The NHS is full of examples of bureaucracy-gone-mad. There aren’t many businesses that still use fax machines heavily, but the NHS does. Surely we should be making it better, not worse!
Millions of pounds of our money is being handed over to consultancy firms that charge their staff out to the NHS at a thousand pounds a day. We should at least be getting our money’s worth.
If we love the NHS, perhaps it’s time to admit that we need to properly fund it and if that means paying a little more tax then so be it.
9 Comments
For once I actually agree with you Iain. For a variety of reasons – the main one being an ageing population – there is just not enough money being allocated.
Only way forward appears to be more money. How that is collected is the issue.
I actually work for the NHS – zero hours contract – and I really enjoy my time at the hospital. Some fantastic people are employed there and it is truly a great organisation.
I absolutely agree. We can’t have a first class system with inadequate funding. Every area of the NHS is under pressure, funding cuts feels like madness.
The German system is considerably better than ours, patients are seen quickly, many tests are carried out at GP surgeries and appointments with consultants are generally quick. Other European countries are equally good. BUT the population pays for it through taxes.
It’s a total vote loser but we have to pay more income tax to fund the NHS. Many of us can afford to do so and should be prepared to pay a little extra for those who can’t.
Lib dems were prepared to bite that bullet.
I never actually believed the nonsense spouted by the Brexiteers that the money going to Europe could be spent on the NHS instead. But the slap in the face from May by refusing to increase funding for the NHS is very hard to take. It is now “permanent winter” in the NHS, with winter still to come. It is blindingly obvious to me that we’re being driven towards a US-style health system. Heaven help us all, but especially those who can’t afford private care. This ought to be the issue that brings this government down, but at what cost to the health service – and our health?
I too have had excellent experiences at Wythenshawe Hospital. But the use of outside “consultants” to advise and get away with taxpayers money needs to be justified. The amounts seem to be harming hospital accounts rather than improving them – the new system for prescriptions is a clear case of a worse arrangement. “The NHS is safe in our hands” promised the politicians before the previous election. I think they forgot to add “hands into our pockets”.
Bruce
The main reason for a failing NHS is an aging population!-RUBBISH. It may be a contributory factor but not the main reason. Consider the amount of new housing built and in the planning stage increasing the population by thousands. There is also the increase in population with settlers from other countries. All these factors add up to a population that the NHS cannot cope with.
THE ELDERLY SHOULD NOT BE CITED AS THE MAIN REASON FOR A FAILING NHS
John
See this
https://www.myhealth.london.nhs.uk/help/nhs-today
NHS London cite 6 reasons for the failings within the NHS. Why did you select and make the main reason the elderly and not one of one of the other 5 reasons?
The use of consultants is usually a sign the incumbent management is lacking competence or worse acting defensively. The management of the NHS does appear to be lacking some skills so on that basis the use of KPMG at 1K per day may be justified (NB this is nothing like the highest rate charged – indeed it looks like a pretty low rate often paid for trainee’s (who of course earn nothing like this figure)).
How on earth do you improve the NHS ? The perennial question ?
Well actually I think it has improved compared to the 80’s and 90’s – our families experience has been overall very good.
It is underfunded particularly compared to the French and German systems – but appears better than the Italian system.
Its worth mentioning the German and French systems are not monolithic blocks like the NHS England but area bodies.
So maybe break up the NHS into more manageable sized units and give it extra funding but with stiff performance competences required.
I note the comment on the £350m a week promised by the Leave people – (actual net figure is £160 m per week we pay to the EU) – and that this will not be paid – who can be surprised by this ! Also project doom predictions are starting to look mild compared to real world possible outcome (how does 10% inflation with no pay rise sound?).
The May government is playing up to the Conservative party and doing irreparable damage to the UK’s economy and reputation – not least to the staff from the EU that are such an important and valuable part of the NHS.
Finding a way to remain in the EU or at least the single market is our best hope of improving the NHS and country generally – I suggest we all try to achieve this as soon as possible.
So a quick
If the hospital had run a competition for staff, patients and ‘civilians’, offering prizes for suggestions which resulted in savings of say £1000 a day, I’m sure there would have been results worth looking at, even if no-one met the criteria for a prize.
I have experienced the system referred to above of having to wait for a letter giving me a daft password and then ‘phone for an appointment. I think this is to defer the appointment.