The Commons Health Select Committee, chaired by former Conservative health secretary Stephen Dorrell, reports that the NHS and local authority social services will be tested to the limit by Government cuts, which assume efficiency savings o£15bn and £20bn over the next four years.
The scale of these cuts is unprecedented in the NHS, or in any other healthcare system in the world. The report says that the Department of Health does not have a "credible plan" on where the cuts will be made.
The committee also looked at adult social services because of significant crossover between these and the NHS. Similar cuts will be made in local authority social service departments. The report says the Local Government Spending Review "cannot fail to pose a challenge for the successful delivery of social care".
The committee are also concerned aboutt the costs of the government's proposed reorganisation of the NHS, and reports that "It is unfortunate that the government has not yet provided even a broad estimate of the likely reorganisation costs; and it is unhelpful for the government to continue to cite £1.7 billion, as it does not relate to their specific proposals," the report says.
Nigel Edwards, acting chief executive of the NHS Confederation, which represents 95% of organisations that make up the NHS, agrees with the committee
"All at the same time, NHS trusts are grappling with unprecedented efficiency savings, major management cuts and radical structural reforms. "It's a mixture that is causing real anxiety among NHS leaders."
The President of the Association of Directors of Adult Social Services Richard Jones said a gap will open up between the needs and demands of older people and adults with disabilities, and the resources available to meet them.
He added “it will be impossible in some authorities to maintain the standards of care we provide without restricting eligibility for those services."
No comments:
Post a Comment