‘On the edge of collapse’

GPs, already facing unconscionable workloads working for an underfunded and understaffed NHS, were threatened by prime minister Theresa May at the weekend (January 14) with even more cuts to their funding if they did not leave their doors open seven days a week.

GPs hit back at May’s demands, arguing that they are already struggling to provide a safe five-day service because of lack of proper funding and a shortage of family doctors.

The prime minister has sought to blame GPs’ limited weekend and out-of-hours services on the acute pressures now facing A&E but Unite, the Royal College of GPs and other organisations representing doctors strongly contested this notion.

“It is not the case that GP surgery routine opening hours are contributing to the pressures our colleagues in A&E departments are currently facing,” said Royal College of GPs chair Prof Helen Stokes-Lampard.

“GPs and our teams are also struggling to cope with increasing patient demand without enough investment and without nearly enough family doctors and practice staff to deal with it; this is a year-long problem for us, not just during the winter.”

Figures from the British Medical Association (BMA) have found that one in three surgeries have vacancies that are unfilled.

Stokes-Lampard explained that in many instances there was simply not enough demand for weekend and out-of-hours services and some surgeries have stopped offering these services precisely because of this lack of demand.

Stokes-Lampard said that ‘it has never made any sense’ to offer services people did not want.

“Blaming GPs for the crisis facing our NHS is not going to help anyone,” she added. “Instead we need to start investing in our health service properly, so that there are adequate resources and clinical staff to deliver the care our patients need and deserve.”

‘Working flat out’

Doctors in Unite chair Dr David Wrigley agreed and highlighted concerns over safety.

“GPs working flat out are incensed to hear the prime minister demand they open their surgeries seven days a week or see a cut in funding,” he said. “We already know GPs work 12 to 14 hour days and admit they are struggling to provide safe care five days a week.

“We have one of the lowest numbers of doctors per head of population in Europe and now the prime minister is asking GPs to work longer hours and practice unsafely with their patients,” he added.

“This government appears to have no desire to support doctors or the NHS. It merely wants to deflect blame from its gross incompetence in its handling and defunding of the NHS which is leaving it teetering on the edge of collapse.

“We would urge the government to work with doctors rather than seeking to use them scapegoats to mask the failures of ministers.”

While GPs are threatened by further cuts to funding and A&E departments are at breaking point –  with 20 trusts recently issuing ‘black alerts’ because of overcrowding – management consultants could be raking in millions for advice on shadowy shake-up plans for the NHS in England.

Secret plans

These plans, called Sustainability and Transformation Plans (STPs), entail health services in England being broken up into 44 regions. Each region has been tasked with drawing up its own plan for health provision in the region, which in effect will pass the blame for a funding crisis in the NHS from the state to these local regions.

Critics argue that STPs – which have largely been kept under wraps but have slowly and steadily come to light thanks to Freedom of Information (FoI) requests by Unite and media organisations – will constitute another failed reorganisation of the NHS and pave the way to greater privatisation, deeper funding cuts and shuttering of services, all while wasting millions on private consultancy fees.

Evidence of this has come to light as it was revealed that NHS bosses in Coventry and Warwickshire forked out ÂŁ343,000 to PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) for advice on saving money in their local STP plan.

It has also been revealed that NHS commissioners in West Yorkshire have handed over ÂŁ378,000 to consultancy firm Attain for their advice on their local STP plan.

If each of the 44 STPs spent a similar sum on management consultants, Unite has calculated that the figure could exceed ÂŁ15m.

‘Disturbing news’

Spending these millions to purportedly save the NHS money comes as under-resourced frontline services face a winter crisis, and as NHS England boss Simon Stevens told MPs last week that the NHS desperately needs more funding from government to keep the service from collapsing altogether.

Unite national officer for health Sarah Carpenter said that it was “very disturbing news” that management consultants are again “scooping up loads of taxpayers’ cash to proffer advice on the local STP.

“If this sort of spending was extrapolated across the 44 STPs in England we are talking about a figure of £15m,” she pointed out. “Unite is calling on Jeremy Hunt to come clean on how much management consultants are being paid for so-called advice on STPs.

“Any such funds would be much better spent on frontline services, such as under pressure A&E departments, rather than on jargon-filled reports,” she added.

“The NHS is reeling from a starvation of cash. The health service is at crisis point and we have not yet reached the worst of the winter weather.

“Simon Stevens, the head of NHS England, is right to raise serious concerns at the insufficient level of NHS funding and an urgent financial injection into the health service is desperately needed.”

STPs have also been strongly criticised for lack of public involvement. The limited public consultation process was due to start this month, with implementation expected later in the year.

The Labour Party is now calling on the government to properly fund the NHS – it will be hosting a national day of action with events across the UK this Saturday (January 21). Find out how you can get involved here.