Press Release

70% of Patient Forums believe that NHS debts will get worse

03 April 2006

A survey of Patient Forums across England has revealed that over 70% believe that NHS debts will continue to get worse. The results of this survey are announced as many NHS Trusts prepare to reveal large debts in their 05/06 financial accounts.

The survey, compiled by the Commission for Patient and Public Involvement in Health (CPPIH), has found that over 60% of the Patient Forums taking part in the poll believe their local NHS Trust will be cutting services this year. 58% believe that there are also plans to make staff cuts.

Comments from some of the 237 Forums from across England who took part in the survey, included:

“100 beds to be closed after 40 closed this financial year at South Warwickshire General Hospital. The Trust will be c £15M in deficit 31/3/06. We await details of redundancies but many posts are now frozen. The Hospital Chair resigned last week after only 6 months in post making it 5 Chairs in 5 years.”

“In Mental Health at Dacorum PCT there are staff cuts on front line staff. These include Community care workers, and Learning disability staff.”

“They are not replacing staff who leave, in particular nursing staff, and auxiliaries. The Forum has not been consulted but told that the Trust has made this decision.”

“Wide ranging service cuts. Cottage Hospital closures, reduction of services at GP surgeries, reduced beds at intermediate care level.”

“Diabetic specialist nurses are being asked to cut their hours. This is supposed to be because the care is being transferred to GP surgeries. We have been failed by the loss of an excellent diabetic care nurse who was headhunted, and it has taken more than two years for the new nurse to be allowed to get the training she needs.”

“Community hospitals have been closed. My Forum was not consulted on the closure and the PCT handling of the closure within the community has been a disaster.”

70% of responding Forums also believe that this situation will get worse:

“I think proposed PCT changes will not improve accountability to patients and local communities especially in areas where the Trusts are to be responsible for huge geographical areas.”

“With the merging of PCTs, the existing relationships with the local PCTs have to be reinvented within a much larger framework of bureaucracy. We note that rather than reducing the numbers of administration staff, the merging of the PCTS opened the door to justifying retaining staff to cater for the processes required to manage 'change'.”

“At the moment decisions are driven by political objectives and Trusts are dictated too much with what they need to do rather than allowing them to make decisions on Trust level. Further Government targets are forced to be given precedence over patient care.”

The survey has also revealed that Patient Forums and the public as a whole are not being consulted by their local NHS Trusts about these service cuts.

Commentating on the results of the survey Steve Lowden, Chief Executive of the CPPIH, said:

“The results give cause for concern and show that there is growing evidence that the financial cuts are already having a negative impact on the level of patient services that can be provided. Hopefully this is not ‘the tip of the iceberg’ but the survey clearly shows that there is a belief that more cuts will be announced over the coming weeks.”

The Patient Forums were set up by statute to provide a voice for patients and the public in healthcare, yet it appears from the results of this survey that many NHS bosses do not feel there is any reason to consult with them.

This means that the Trusts are missing out on the opportunity to help the public gain a better understanding of the problems services are facing and also the opportunity to converse with patients to find possible solutions.”