Labour's secret plan for £20 billion cuts to the NHS
September 4, 2009 10:30 AM
Shocking details of a secret Labour Government plan to axe billions of pounds of NHS spending have emerged in today's newspapers.
The NHS have commissioned elite management consultants McKinseys to advise on how the organisation should prepare for expected £20 billion "efficiency savings" by 2014, as the Government runs out of money.
Reports suggest this could translate to 137,000 NHS jobs being axed - a tenth of the workforce. Other recommendations include:
a recruitment freeze
a reduction in medical school places
an early retirement programme
cutting 4 million hospital appointments a year
considering cutting "non-essential" procedures such as tonsillectomies and varicose vein removal
selling off surplus NHS land and buildings *
Reacting, Lib Dem Parliamentary Spokesman for Newcastle East Greg Stone said "Many people will be shocked to hear the extent of the crisis facing the NHS if Labour implements the advice of cost-cutting consultants. I would be very interested to know how much the Government has paid these experts for this advice.
"I believe it is extremely cynical for local Labour politicians to stage photo-opportunities dressed in "We love the NHS" T-shirts on the very same day that national Labour politicians are paying expensive management consultants vast amounts of money to come up with a charter for cuts on an unprecedented scale, including massive job losses and front-line cuts to medical care.
"It would appear that Labour do not understand the difference between Hippocratical and hypocritical"
- This suggestion is actually sensible and worthy of support. Disposing of unused sites such as Hunters Moor Hospital in Spital Tongues, which has been empty for years, would be entirely reasonable in the current situation
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