{"id":11100,"date":"2017-01-17T15:15:23","date_gmt":"2017-01-17T15:15:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/unitelive.org\/?p=11100"},"modified":"2017-01-18T16:33:04","modified_gmt":"2017-01-18T16:33:04","slug":"on-the-edge-of-collapse","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/?p=11100","title":{"rendered":"‘On the edge of collapse’"},"content":{"rendered":"
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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.<\/p>\n

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GPs hit back at May\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s 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.<\/p>\n

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The prime minister has sought to blame GPs\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 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.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bIt is not the case that GP surgery routine opening hours are contributing to the pressures our colleagues in A&E departments are currently facing,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 said Royal College of GPs chair Prof Helen Stokes-Lampard.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bGPs 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.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

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Figures from the British Medical Association<\/a> (BMA) have found that one in three surgeries have vacancies that are unfilled.<\/p>\n

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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.<\/p>\n

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Stokes-Lampard said that \u00e2\u20ac\u0098it has never made any sense\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 to offer services people did not want.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bBlaming GPs for the crisis facing our NHS is not going to help anyone,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 she added. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bInstead 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.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

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‘Working flat out’<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Doctors in Unite chair Dr David Wrigley agreed and highlighted concerns over safety.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bGPs 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,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he said. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bWe already know GPs work 12 to 14 hour days and admit they are struggling to provide safe care five days a week.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bWe 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,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he added.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThis 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.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bWe would urge the government to work with doctors rather than seeking to use them scapegoats to mask the failures of ministers.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

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While GPs are threatened by further cuts to funding and A&E departments are at breaking point –\u00c2\u00a0 with 20 trusts recently issuing \u00e2\u20ac\u0098black alerts\u00e2\u20ac\u2122<\/a> because of overcrowding \u00e2\u20ac\u201c management consultants could be raking in millions for advice on shadowy shake-up plans for the NHS in England.<\/p>\n

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Secret plans<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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Critics argue that STPs \u00e2\u20ac\u201c 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 \u00e2\u20ac\u201c will constitute another failed reorganisation of the NHS and pave the way to greater privatisation, deeper funding cuts<\/a> and shuttering of services, all while wasting millions on private consultancy fees.<\/p>\n

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Evidence of this has come to light as it was revealed<\/a> that NHS bosses in Coventry and Warwickshire forked out \u00c2\u0141343,000 to PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) for advice on saving money in their local STP plan.<\/p>\n

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It has also been revealed<\/a> that NHS commissioners in West Yorkshire have handed over \u00c2\u0141378,000 to consultancy firm Attain for their advice on their local STP plan.<\/p>\n

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If each of the 44 STPs spent a similar sum on management consultants, Unite has calculated that the figure could exceed \u00c2\u014115m.<\/p>\n

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‘Disturbing news’<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

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

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Unite national officer for health Sarah Carpenter said that it was \u00e2\u20ac\u015bvery disturbing news\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 that management consultants are again \u00e2\u20ac\u015bscooping up loads of taxpayers\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 cash to proffer advice on the local STP.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bIf this sort of spending was extrapolated across the 44 STPs in England we are talking about a figure of \u00c2\u014115m,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 she pointed out. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bUnite is calling on Jeremy Hunt to come clean on how much management consultants are being paid for so-called advice on STPs.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bAny such funds would be much better spent on frontline services, such as under pressure A&E departments, rather than on jargon-filled reports,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 she added.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThe 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.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bSimon 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.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

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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.<\/p>\n

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The Labour Party is now calling on the government to properly fund the NHS \u00e2\u20ac\u201c 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.<\/a><\/p>\n

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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\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s demands, arguing that they are […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6854,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[17],"tags":[669,473,75,81,632],"wps_subtitle":"Consultants rake in NHS funds as GPs face cuts","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11100"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=11100"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11100\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11102,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11100\/revisions\/11102"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/6854"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=11100"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=11100"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=11100"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}