Latest news with #SaffronCordery
The Guardian
14 hours ago
- Health
- The Guardian
A clear set of actions is needed to improve NHS maternity services
This inquiry (Wes Streeting announces investigation into 'failing' NHS maternity services, 23 June) needs to get to the heart of why NHS maternity services in England are falling far short of where they need to be. It must leave no stone unturned; there are significant, systemic challenges that affect trusts' ability to consistently deliver high-quality care, deep-rooted issues with morale and culture within maternity services and, as you highlight (Editorial, 23 June), the 'shockingly higher risk of mortality faced by black and Asian mothers' and those from more deprived backgrounds. There have been innumerable recommendations and a regulatory landscape that has become complex, distracting and difficult for trusts to navigate. Trust leaders will welcome proposals to introduce one clear set of actions to improve care across every NHS maternity CorderyDeputy chief executive, NHS Providers After a number of years overseeing maternity and perinatal services at regional level, this proposal frustrates me. The inquiry is purely politically motivated and will not add any value to the women, babies and families affected previously or who may be in the future. Multiple strategic transformation programmes have been commissioned and funded. There is nothing new to discover; obstetricians focus on healthy babies, midwives focus on happy mothers. The medical v social models of care make this an impossible divide, not helped by either group frequently failing to listen and respond effectively to women's concerns. Perhaps when there are sufficient staff to work together as a team, and we place the woman at the centre of care and an effective digital infrastructure is in place to support effective communication, instead of focusing on the either/or approach of 'high risk' v 'low risk', we might get PearsonGatley, Cheshire We do not need another review of failing maternity services. The national service development funding (SDF) for maternity services will be cut from £95m in 2024-25 to just £2m in 2025-26. The patriarchy rules and as a consequence misogyny sets the tone for maternity care. Why else would there be gynaecology beds for women experiencing miscarriage, ectopic pregnancy or termination on a postnatal ward?Zoe GreenLondon Although failures in maternity care are of great concern, rather than simply chasing after the evidence of what failures look like and castigating those accused of 'passing the buck', perhaps Wes Streeting should also look at the 10 best performing units to find out what they do and how they achieve success. That might prove informative and more inspirational than (once again) punishing those that GibbsEmeritus professor of inclusive educational psychology and philosophy, Newcastle University Have an opinion on anything you've read in the Guardian today? Please email us your letter and it will be considered for publication in our letters section.
Daily Mail
09-05-2025
- Health
- Daily Mail
NHS plans 'unthinkable' cuts for diabetes and mental health patients to balance books - as new boss declares pensioners' care 'unacceptable'
Hospitals are making 'unthinkable' cuts to services including diabetes and mental health clinics in a bid to meet the 'eye-watering' savings demanded by NHS bosses, a new report has revealed. In March, the health service's new chief executive Sir Jim Mackey ordered NHS trusts to make unprecedented cuts to avoid a projected £6.6bn deficit becoming a reality. Now, a damning report from NHS Providers has found rehabilitation centres, talking therapies and beds for end-of-life care are also at risk or are being scaled back to comply with the 'financial reset'. Almost half of all trust bosses surveyed admitted they were having to scale back services, with more than a third also slashing clinical posts. One, shockingly, said their trust had to cut 600 clinical roles like doctors and nurses along with a further 1,000 office jobs to reduce costs. Earlier this year, the NHS was promised an extra £11 billion for two years, but much of it has been swallowed up by the 22 per cent salary increase for junior doctors—now known as resident doctors—health leaders said. They also warned the 'eye-wateringly high levels' of savings required would prove 'extremely challenging' and inevitably affect patients and waiting times. It comes as Sir Jim yesterday also slammed the 'unacceptable' care patients have received from the NHS—particularly for the elderly—which has become 'normalised'. Interim chief executive of NHS Providers, Saffron Cordery, said: 'The NHS has just undergone a significant financial reset in response to a deficit that ran across the health and care system of between £6 billon and £7 billion. 'There was clearly a pressing need to tackle what was becoming a spiralling deficit—an understandable deficit. 'Things like the resident doctors' pay award took a significant chunk of money out of the allocation to frontline services. 'We also know that inflation put significant pressure on trust budgets, and there were many, many unfunded demands on trusts. 'But let's also be clear, cuts have consequences. 'NHS trusts face competing priorities of improving services for patients and boosting performance, while trying to balance the books with ever-tighter budgets. National leaders must appreciate that makes a hard job even harder.' The survey, carried out last month, gathered the responses from 160 NHS chief executives, chairmen and other board executive directors. These cover 114 trusts in England and account for 56 per cent of the sector. Some 47 per cent revealed they were scaling back services, with a further 43 per cent considering this option. More than one in four (26 per cent) said they will need to close some services. These included diabetes clinics, rehabilitation services, virtual wards, stop-smoking services and talking therapies. A boss of a mental health trust also told the BBC they had had to stop accepting referrals for adults with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), while waits for psychological therapies exceeded a year. The chronic condition diabetes now affects 4.6 million people in the UK — a record high, according to the charity Diabetes UK. It can be a deadly illness and it costs the NHS roughly £10 billion a year to treat, with patients at higher risk of damage to organs, nerves and cells. Last year, concerning new figures also showed the number of children referred for specialist anxiety treatment has doubled in just four years. More than 200,000 children in England — or 4,000 every week — were waiting to begin treatment in the past year. Over a third (37 per cent) of survey respondents also said their organisation is also cutting clinical posts as they try to balance their books, with a further 40 per cent considering this. Meanwhile, 86 per cent of trust leaders said they were cutting posts in non-clinical teams—such as HR, finance, estates, digital and communications—after being told to halve corporate cost growth. Several trusts said they were aiming for reductions of 500 or more jobs. It comes after NHS bosses were hauled into an urgent meeting in March with Sir Jim, after it was revealed there was a £6.6 billion gap between hospitals' financial plans for 2025-26 and the actual budget. Speaking at an event for the Medical Journalists Association in London yesterday, he also said the service faces 'big choices' to 'tackle variation' and 'improve service standards'. He slammed 'unacceptable' care the NHS had provided—particularly for the elderly—which he acknowledged has become 'normalised'. Sir Jim also expressed concerns over staff being 'desensitised' to poor care, such as elderly people facing long waits on trolleys in A&E departments. On spending he added: 'The NHS is such a big part of public spending now we are pretty much maxed out on what's affordable. 'It is really now about delivering better value for money, getting more change, getting back to reasonable productivity levels, but in a way that's human and is about standards and about quality.' In the Providers survey, however, 45 per cent of leaders said they were moderately or extremely concerned the actions they were taking to make savings will compromise patient experience. Some 61 per cent said patient experience is most at risk of being impacted by the changes, while 57 per cent thought access to timely care would take a hit. Professor Nicola Ranger, general secretary and chief executive of the Royal College of Nursing, said: 'This is NHS leaders themselves coming clean about the perilous state of the NHS. 'Reducing clinical jobs and patient services is different from any argument on NHS waste and efficiency—patient needs go unmet, hospitals become overcrowded and waiting lists grow. 'Cutting nurse jobs costs lives and Wes Streeting will need to decide if this is acceptable on his watch.' Responding to the survey, a Department of Health and Social Care spokeswoman said: 'We invested an extra £26 billion to fix the broken health and care system we inherited, and through our plan for change are determined to tackle inefficiencies and drive up productivity in the NHS. 'We have underlined the need for trusts to cut bureaucracy to invest even further in the front line, so we can support hard-working staff and deliver a better service for patients and taxpayers' money.'
Yahoo
09-05-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
NHS plans 'unthinkable' cuts to balance books
The NHS in England is planning "previously unthinkable" cuts to try to balance the books, health bosses say. Services including diabetes care for young people, rehab centres and talking therapies are in the firing line, according to NHS Providers, which represents health managers. Staff, including doctors and nurses, also face the axe - and some NHS trusts are stopping overtime for doctors, putting the drive to cut the hospital waiting lists at risk. NHS Providers said some of the savings were "eye-watering", but the Department of Health and Social Care said NHS services should focus on cutting bureaucracy and driving up productivity. The figures come after initial accounts for 2025-26 suggested frontline NHS organisations were going to go nearly £7bn over budget, an overspend nearly 5% above what they have been given by government, despite ministers increasing funding by £22bn over two years. One chief executive of a large hospital trust said it was looking to shed 1,500 jobs, some 5% of its workforce, including doctors and nurses. Meanwhile, a boss of a mental health trust told the BBC they had had to stop accepting referrals for adults with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), while waits for psychological therapies exceeded a year. They said morale had "never been lower" among staff. Other services at risk include stop smoking services and palliative care. The closure of some maternity units is also being considered, although part of that is down to the falling birth rate which has seen a number of services being under-used. NHS Providers received evidence from 114 trusts, more than half of the total in England. Nearly all said they were cutting or planning to cut jobs which in many cases would affect clinical staff such as doctors and nurses too. A majority also reported they were looking at closing services or at least scaling them back. NHS Providers interim chief executive Saffron Cordery said NHS managers were having to think the "previously unthinkable". And she said while they would do their best to protect patient care, she added: "Let's be clear. Cuts have consequences." She said pay rises for resident doctors - previously known as junior doctors - and inflation had eaten into the extra money the health service had been given. But the Department of Health and Social Care said the extra funding being provided should be enough. A spokeswoman said: "We have underlined the need for trusts to cut bureaucracy to invest even further in the front line so we can support hard-working staff and deliver a better service for patients and taxpayers' money."
The Independent
08-05-2025
- Health
- The Independent
A&E and maternity services under threat over ‘eye watering' NHS savings targets
Hundreds of doctors and nurses' jobs could be scrapped and maternity and A&E services scaled back to meet the government's 'eye watering' NHS savings, a new report has revealed. A s urvey of trust leaders by NHS Providers found clinical jobs have already been slashed or are under threat, while outpatient services such as diabetes clinics, rehabilitation centres and talking therapies are at risk of being reduced. Two trust leaders also said they were considering reducing maternity or emergency departments from multiple hospitals in order to maintain safety and meet the government's savings demands. Another trust is cutting end-of-life and palliative care beds in the community, restricting stop-smoking services and working to reduce hospital referrals. One trust chief said they were already 'restricting' non-emergency care and surgeries, while 600 clinical roles have been axed at another trust. The NHS, which is facing a £6bn to £7bn deficit, was allocated £22bn over two years by the government in the last budget. However, this financial award came with strict efficiency-saving requirements. Interim chief executive of NHS Providers, Saffron Cordery, said: 'Most of the money that was allocated to the system was already spoken for. So whilst that money feels like a lot of money and it is, the demands outstripped the supply of finances there, and there's very little money left to invest in the measures to tackle these challenges." 'These [savings targets] are at eye wateringly high levels. This comes on the back of a year-on-year focus on efficiencies and trying to tackle that high demand. So, I think it is fair to say that it's going to be extremely challenging.' 'Politicians are going to have to give trusts air cover locally and nationally when they need to make some changes, because even if trusts aren't cutting services or closing services, they may well be moving services. 'Moving a maternity service or changing an A&E is an incredibly controversial thing to do. We know that that controversy is there, and so we need the political will as well to follow that." The survey, which ran last month, included responses from 160 NHS chief executives, chairmen and other board executive directors. These cover 114 trusts in England and account for 56 per cent of the sector. Royal College of Nursing, General Secretary and Chief Executive Professor Nicola Ranger, warned:'Cutting nurse jobs costs lives and Wes Streeting will need to decide if this is acceptable on his must realise that in the drive for savings, it is patients who are paying the price.' The poll found 47 per cent of leaders are making cuts to services, with a further 43 per cent considering this option. More than a third, 37 per cent, said their organisation was cutting clinical posts to balance their books, with a further 40 per cent considering this. More than nine in 10 leaders, 94 per cent, said their plans would have a negative impact on staff wellbeing and the culture of their organisation. One trust chief executive said: 'It's really difficult to find a way to protect, to safeguard patients, arguably to strengthen safeguards and to deliver the financial efficiencies, like others, we're taking difficult decisions 'We're having conversations about moving away from local provisions to asking patients to travel 20 to 30 miles for care now, but on the basis that that travel will mean that their care will be delivered in a better environment, will be safer, and faster. We provide a number of maternity services. It's an opportunity to bring those together to standardise them.' 'We are restricting access now to planned [non-emergency] care. We've got a series of services which are unfunded, and we've written back to NHS England to say we no longer want to provide those.' Another said: 'Demand has gone up across all ages by 10 per cent in my services on the year before…I think the differences this year is they're [the savings targets] are eye watering… at the moment, I don't know how I'm going to do it.' The trust chief also called for a reform of the system, which allows private providers with a local NHS contract to provide services nationally, which it said was leading to patients 'queue jumping' Talking about their maternity services, a trust chief said they were considering amalgamating services. 'So I mention maternity, we've got an ED with only 200 beds. So we're going to have to think about what we do with that because it's not just that we pay a lot of money to run two Maternity services…So how do we reduce costs and be able to take some brave decisions?' A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said: 'We invested an extra £26 billion to fix the broken health and care system we inherited, and through our Plan for Change, are determined to tackle inefficiencies and drive-up productivity in the NHS. 'We have underlined the need for trusts to cut bureaucracy to invest even further in the front line, so we can support hard-working staff and deliver a better service for patients and taxpayers' money.'
The Guardian
08-05-2025
- Health
- The Guardian
Hospitals in England reducing staff and services as part of NHS ‘financial reset'
Hospitals in England are cutting staff, closing services and planning to ration care in order to make 'eye-watering' savings demanded by NHS bosses. Rehabilitation centres face being shut, talking therapies services cut and beds for end-of-life care reduced as part of efforts by England's 215 NHS trusts to comply with a 'financial reset'. Sir Jim Mackey, NHS England's new chief executive, has ordered them to make unprecedented savings during 2025-26 to avoid a projected £6.6bn deficit becoming a reality. But trust bosses are warning that delivering what for some equates to 12% of their entire budget in 'efficiency savings' will affect patients and waiting times. 'These [savings targets] are at eye-wateringly high levels', said Saffron Cordery, the interim chief executive of NHS Providers, which represents trusts. 'It's going to be extremely challenging.' Trusts have to make, in some cases, deep cuts in order to stay in the black this year, despite the government having given the NHS an extra £22bn for last year and this one. A survey it conducted among trust leaders found that diabetes services for young people and hospital at-home-style 'virtual wards' were among the areas of care likely to be scaled back. Trusts are planning to shrink their workforce by up to 1,500 posts each to save money, even though they fear that could damage the quality or safety of care provided. Cordery said the looming cuts were so significant that the prime minister, Keir Starmer, and health secretary, Wes Streeting, may not be able to fulfil promises to revive the NHS, such as pledges to improve waiting times for diagnostic tests, surgery and A&E care. 'We've got the narrative of the 'three shifts' … and those are driving the decisions that the government is making, alongside the imminent delivery of the [NHS] 10-year plan and pressures on transforming the NHS for the future,' she said. 'But we've got to question whether those are compatible with the needs of delivering the financial recovery and for trusts to really meet the operational challenges they face.' Ministers would have to explain to the public that trusts were having to make potentially unpopular decisions about staff numbers and what services they provided as a result of Mackey's financial 'reset', and defend their decisions, Cordery added. 'Politicians are going to have to give trusts air cover locally and nationally when they need to make some changes, because even if trusts aren't cuttings services or closing services, they may well be moving services.' The survey of 160 senior figures from 114 trusts found that: 47% were cutting services and another 43% were considering doing so. 37% were cutting clinical posts and a further 40% may follow suit. 26% were closing some services and 55% more may do so. 'These findings show that trust leaders are having to think the previously unthinkable in terms of cutting posts. These include clinical roles,' said Cordery. 'We are already seeing cutbacks in temporary and 'bank' staff, including doctors, nurses, healthcare support workers and allied health professionals that could include physios and other types of therapists.' In a recent update to staff, the boss of the Barking, Havering and Redbridge trust in east London, Matthew Trainer, warned that making £61m of savings this year – double last year's £30m total – would be 'painful', especially given the rising demand for care and need to improve waiting times. The trust is cutting 115 posts in corporate services to save £7.5m and slashing the number of shifts it gives 'bank' and agency staff by more than a third as part of an attempt to cut its wage bill by £40m. Having fewer staff on duty could have 'adverse effects on patients', Trainer acknowledged. 'We will mitigate any risks to patients as best we can and ensure we continue to have properly skilled clinical staff delivering good quality care to the patients that need it', he said. A second trust chief executive, who has to save £16m this year, said: 'At the moment I don't know how I'm going to do it.' A third echoed Trainer's concern that staff cuts could endanger patients. 'Last year the [NHS's] combined deficit was £200m. I recognise that this is unaffordable and cannot continue. But it's really difficult to find a way to protect safe care to patients … and to [also] deliver the financial efficiencies.' A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said: 'We invested an extra £26bn to fix the broken health and care system we inherited, and through our plan for change, are determined to tackle inefficiencies and drive up productivity in the NHS. 'We have underlined the need for trusts to cut bureaucracy to invest even further in the frontline, so we can support hard-working staff and deliver a better service for patients and taxpayers' money.'
