National Health Service (NHS) trusts have been ordered to slash spending and cut staff numbers as a \u00a32bn black hole in Tory health spending further exacerbates Britain\u2019s health crisis.<\/p>\n
UK health service regulator Monitor has written to every NHS trust in the country, asking them to revise their budgets as current spending proposals are \u201csimply unaffordable.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n The health service regulator\u2019s letter, which was authored by Monitor\u2019s chief executive David Bennett, has also called upon health providers to only fill staff vacancies that are essential.<\/p>\n ‘NHS told to fill only essential vacancies http:\/\/t.co\/MYrLbHeR1w<\/a>‘ Tory protection for NHS. Per capita cuts in real terms. No austerity-lite<\/p>\n \u2013 michael burke (@menburke) August 4, 2015<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n Bennet\u2019s letter warned of a financial calamity of \u201calmost unprecedented\u201d<\/em> levels facing the NHS, and stressed savings must be made where possible. It said financial forecasts for the coming year are unsustainable, and emergency spending cuts are vital.<\/p>\n Britain\u2019s Health Service Journal recently estimated NHS trusts are facing a deficit of \u00a32bn for 2015-16.<\/p>\n \u201cAs you know, the NHS is facing an almost unprecedented financial challenge this year,\u201d<\/em> Bennet told health service providers.<\/p>\n \u201cCurrent plans are quite simply unaffordable. As I have said before, if we are to do the best we can for patients we must leave no stone unturned in our collective efforts to make the money we have go as far as possible.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n Bennett said spending plans for NHS trusts with the largest debt burdens are under review. However, he warned this process will not \u201cclose the funding gap\u201d<\/em> alone.<\/p>\n \u201cWe need all providers \u2014 even those planning for a surplus this year \u2014 to look again at their plans to see what more can be done,\u201d<\/em> he said.<\/p>\n Bennett said ministers will support health service providers in making these cuts. But he warned their deficit reduction strategies should ensure health providers\u2019 safety and broader constitutional standards are upheld.<\/p>\n Shadow health secretary and Labour leadership contender Andy Burnham said the NHS is in deep crisis.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is a sign of a serious deterioration in NHS finances. It suggests that the financial crisis in the NHS is threatening to spiral out of control and hit standards of patient care,\u201d<\/em> he said.<\/p>\n \u201cThe suggestion that hospitals can ignore safe staffing guidance will alarm patients and the government must decide if it will overrule this advice. It will raise further questions about how the government can possibly fulfil commitments on a seven-day NHS without the money to back it up.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n In April, Campaigners travelled across central London on a \u201cbattle bus\u201d<\/em> in protest against the corrosive impact of private finance initiative (PFI) contracts on Britain\u2019s public health service. They warned hospitals in London are crumbling under toxic Private Finance Initiative (PFI) debts.<\/p>\n Part of a worldwide program of privatization and financialization, PFI schemes use private capital to fund public infrastructure development. British taxpayers are estimated to owe roughly \u00a3222 billion ($337 billion) to banks and private firms under 720 PFI contracts.<\/p>\n By 2050, the UK\u2019s total PFI bill could amount to \u00a3310 billion ($470 billion) or four times the UK\u2019s deficit, experts suggest. Critics warn these contracts are overpriced, shrouded in secrecy and \u2014 in certain instances \u2014 dependent on criminally rigged Libor rates.<\/p>\n Financial justice activists are calling upon the British government to address Britain\u2019s PFI debt crisis and acknowledge that excessive debts generated through these schemes impact on ordinary taxpayers while wealthy investors profit.<\/p>\n In July, Green Party MP Caroline Lucas tabled a bill to repeal large sections of the Health and Social Care Act 2012, scrap NHS trusts and significantly restrict corporate interests driving public health policy in Britain.<\/p>\n Lucas argued at the time the NHS is teetering \u201cprecariously on the brink of privatization.\u201d<\/em> The legislation would place the responsibility for UK citizens\u2019 health back in the hands of the Secretary of State.<\/p>\n Her proposed bill received cross-party backing, including the support of Labour MP and leadership contender Jeremy Corbyn, Liberal Democrat MP John Pugh, and Scottish National Party (SNP) spokesperson for health Phillipa Whitford.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Via RT<\/a>.\u00a0This piece was reprinted by RINF Alternative News<\/a> with permission or license.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" National Health Service (NHS) trusts have been ordered to slash spending and cut staff numbers as a \u00a32bn black hole in Tory health spending further exacerbates Britain\u2019s health crisis. UK health service regulator Monitor has written to every NHS trust in the country, asking them to revise their budgets as current spending proposals are \u201csimply […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":170557,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[487,18,1615],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-171702","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-breaking-news","8":"category-latest-news","9":"category-uk-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/171702","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=171702"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/171702\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/170557"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=171702"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=171702"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=171702"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n