Labour ‘seems intent on wielding scissors’ to NHS as scale of budget shortfall revealed

Trade union Unite has condemned further cuts to NHS jobs, following a new report detailing the effects of the health service’s “budget squeeze” in England.

“Unthinkable” NHS cuts come as staff morale has “never been lower”

A new NHS Providers survey has revealed that “services are being scaled back and jobs cut” across the nation. The report explained that the “predicted financial shortfall” in funding is around £7bn for this year, and that the expectation is for NHS trusts “to drastically reduce running costs” to compensate. It added that:

nearly half of trust leaders (47%) surveyed warned they are scaling back services to deliver tough financial plans, with a further 43% considering this option. Virtual wards, rehabilitation centres, talking therapies and diabetes services for young people are amongst services identified at risk

And in terms of job losses, it said:

The scale of job cuts is becoming clear with a number of trusts aiming to take out 500 posts or more and one organisation planning to cut around 1000 jobs.

Almost all survey participants insisted that the measures:

would have a negative impact on staff wellbeing and culture at a time when morale, burnout and vacancies are taking their toll and disquiet over pay and conditions is rising.

NHS leaders have reportedly been considering “previously unthinkable” and “eye-watering” measures to balance the books. One mental health trust boss told the BBC morale among staff had “never been lower”.

“Stark” and “catastrophic”

Unite’s national health officer Richard Munn responded to the NHS news by saying:

Further spending cuts to staff or to services in the NHS would simply be catastrophic. The service is already hanging on by a thread and now government seem intent on wielding scissors.

He added that:

Patients and staff will have their health and wellbeing put at risk and lives will be lost – it is that stark.

The union’s general secretary Sharon Graham, meanwhile, asserted:

This prime minister cannot continue with the Conservative legacy of running the NHS into the ground under the guise of “reforms”. Unite will be aggressively campaigning against any measures that are a byword for cuts or any downgrading to our members’ pay and conditions.

Industrial action as a result of the plans “is likely to increase”, the union said.

Despite previous calls for Unite to disaffiliate from Labour due to its rush to the right under Keir Starmer, it has thus far opted to maintain its links with the party.

“Hospitals already buckling under the pressure of understaffing”

British Medical Association (BMA) chair Prof Phil Banfield responded to the NHS news by saying:

It is deeply concerning to hear that so many trusts are still thinking about cutting services, given the state of the NHS today. Patients up and down the country will be wondering how this can be possible when they see hospitals already buckling under the pressure of understaffing, A&E patients lining corridors, waiting lists that seem endless and clinical staff eternally on the verge of burnout. To be in that situation and then to cut the number of doctors will seem absurd to most people. We are already hugely under-doctored amongst comparable countries.

He added that honesty about the situation is necessary, and the government should be upfront about it:

What we need is for Government to get a grip of a currently fragmented health system. There needs to be an honesty with the public about the scale of the financial challenge of restoring our NHS and the costs of reorganising services, which must be driven by the clinical need of patients, not managerial expediency.

If they truly want to meet their targets of cutting waiting lists rather than extending them, Government will need to ensure their NHS plans boost the numbers of doctors, and create – not cut – capacity.

Featured image via the Canary