{"id":4357,"date":"2015-06-02T17:03:33","date_gmt":"2015-06-02T16:03:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/unitelive.org\/?p=4357"},"modified":"2015-06-02T18:01:05","modified_gmt":"2015-06-02T17:01:05","slug":"soaring-bills","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/?p=4357","title":{"rendered":"Soaring bills"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Health secretary Jeremy Hunt announced today<\/a>\u00c2\u00a0(June 2) a pledge to clamp down on the health service\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s soaring agency staff bill \u00e2\u20ac\u201c a bill that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s spiralled out of control after his own government\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s reckless mismanagement of the NHS.<\/p>\n

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Hunt has vowed to put a stop to \u00e2\u20ac\u015bexorbitant\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 fees for temporary doctors and nurses that he said was \u00e2\u20ac\u015bripping off\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 the health service.<\/p>\n

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The government plans to introduce a new maximum hourly rate that an agency may charge an agency doctor or nurse\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s services, as well as a cap on how much any trust with financial troubles can spend on them.<\/p>\n

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No mention was made, however, of NHS health staff who\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve been ripped off for years under the previous government \u00e2\u20ac\u201c a combination of paralyzing pay freezes, impossible workloads and bureaucratic mismanagement has made once valued professions such as general practice and nursing among the least desirable occupations.<\/p>\n

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This severe underinvestment in the permanent workforce, health professionals and think tank experts have said, is what has caused the massive reliance on agency staff in the first place.<\/p>\n

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Out of control<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

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Hunt is right that the agency staff bill has skyrocketed \u00e2\u20ac\u201c\u00c2\u00a0figures cited by the Nuffield Trust today<\/a>\u00c2\u00a0(June 2) point to a 31 per cent increase in spending on agency staff in one year alone.<\/p>\n

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This, the Nuffield Trust notes, largely accounts for the \u00c2\u0141800m hole in hospital and community service finances.<\/p>\n

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The total bill for agency staff now stands at \u00c2\u01413.3bn.<\/p>\n

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The overreliance on agency staff is an issue that Unite head of health Barrie Brown said has been a central concern for the union and its health staff members.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bUnite and the other health unions raised this very issue with Jeremy Hunt on 20 January this year during the pay negotiations,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he said. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bThe health secretary has been slow to get to grips with the spiralling out of control agency budget.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

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Brown argued that the only way to slash the bill is to support, recruit and retain permanent staff.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bUnite wants the agency bill slashed and permanent nursing staff and other health professionals employed with proper training and development in place, coupled with robust recruitment and retention policies,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he said.<\/p>\n

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He noted that Hunt\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s announcement to cut agency staff expenditure by simply saying he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll put a stop to the exorbitant cost per agency worker does nothing to address the root cause of the problem.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bAs a supporter of the free market, does he not realise that the charges made by the agencies are an outcome of the market where supply and demand determine prices?\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 Brown pointed out.<\/p>\n

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He went on to say that under Hunt\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s government, the nursing profession has been decimated, which makes agency working a more desirable option for many nurses.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bSince 2010 there has been a drop in student nurses being trained and over the past 5 years nurses have had a real drop in income of 15% – not surprising that they are tempted to work for agencies,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he said.<\/p>\n

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Brown\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s arguments were supported by the Nuffield Trust\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s recent findings that has served as the basis for the think tank\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s new briefing, which outlines\u00c2\u00a010 key health and social care priorities for the new government.<\/a><\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThe NHS needs to hit very ambitious efficiency targets, at the same time as fundamentally changing the way care is delivered and moving to a seven day service,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 said Nuffield Trust executive Nigel Edwards.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u0165That can only be done if it has the right staff in the right places. Yet there are not enough staff to fill gaps in key areas, and we are seeing clear signs of stress and disengagement.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

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Unprecedented efficiency savings<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

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Hunt\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s vow to cut spending on agency staff in the NHS was coupled with a demand that the health service \u00e2\u20ac\u015bstop making excuses\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 about a lack of funding now that the government has pledged an extra \u00c2\u01418bn a year.<\/p>\n

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The health secretary argued his case in a\u00c2\u00a0comment piece<\/a>\u00c2\u00a0published in the Telegraph today.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bEight billion was what the NHS asked for. But with that commitment from taxpayers, the time for debating whether or not it is enough is over: the NHS now needs to deliver its side of the bargain, which is to make substantial and significant efficiency savings,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he wrote.<\/p>\n

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The efficiency savings that the government has called for in the next five years stand at a stark \u00c2\u014122bn.<\/p>\n

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The Nuffield Trust contended that these unprecedented savings levels, added with the Tory plan for a seven-day NHS, will not be realised \u00e2\u20ac\u015bunless the health service reconnects with staff and develops their skills to better meet changing patient needs.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

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Brown added that Hunt, even after three years as health secretary, \u00e2\u20ac\u015bdoesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t understand the demands on the health service\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 and argued against the ruthless cutting of costs, which will have dire consequences for patients.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bSince 2010, the spending on the NHS has reduced as a percentage of GDP and previously had risen to the same level as countries such as France and Germany,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he noted.<\/p>\n

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Brown added that much of the health service\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s current financial woes were caused by the previous government itself.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bHunt ignores the decision made by his predecessor to re-organise the NHS at a cost of \u00c2\u01413 billion which has now contributed to the financial problems of the NHS in England,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he said.<\/p>\n

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While the health secretary argued that \u00e2\u20ac\u015bsafer services cost less; and controlling costs funds safer services\u00e2\u20ac\u0165, Brown decried this logic.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bAll commentators and organisations who do understand the NHS and the budgets required to maintain the volume and quality of services expected have made it clear that the NHS is underfunded, since NHS costs will always exceed inflation levels,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he said.<\/p>\n

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Health secretary Jeremy Hunt announced today\u00c2\u00a0(June 2) a pledge to clamp down on the health service\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s soaring agency staff bill \u00e2\u20ac\u201c a bill that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s spiralled out of control after his own government\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s reckless mismanagement of the NHS.   Hunt has vowed to put a stop to \u00e2\u20ac\u015bexorbitant\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 fees for temporary doctors and nurses that he […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4358,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[17],"tags":[29,44],"wps_subtitle":"Tories\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 reckless mismanagement of NHS all adds up","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4357"}],"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=4357"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4357\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4361,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4357\/revisions\/4361"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/4358"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4357"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4357"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4357"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}