BMA warns of ‘slash and burn’ health service cuts
pharmafile | June 28, 2011 | News story | | BMA, NHS reforms
The BMA has hit out against reckless cuts to health service budgets and a ‘phoney war’ on NHS pensions.
In his opening speech to the BMA’s annual conference, chairman Dr Hamish Meldrum said there were hard times ahead for the NHS, thanks to reforms in England and the continued pressure on NHS finances across the UK.
He added that threats to the NHS pension scheme would also be a major issue in the months ahead.
“The government has made some positive moves on NHS reform with the listening exercise – but that’s not enough, we need to build on that, not throw it away with short-term cost-cutting of frontline care, poorly planned major service changes or a phoney war about the unsustainability of an NHS pension scheme that is £10 billion in surplus.”
On the Health and Social Care Bill, Dr Meldrum said amendments had made it a “significantly different bill” from the one originally proposed and is now on a better track, but that “there is still a lot to play for, still much detail to be devilled out, still much else we want to change”.
The BMA will continue its battle against the divisive features of the healthcare market in England, said Dr Meldrum. “Doctors are not afraid of competition – in fact, they thrive on it. They want to know that they are working as well, if not better than their colleagues and they need fair, effective and evidence-based data on health outcomes to provide them with that information.
“But that is quite different from the unfettered, free market of the industrial world, because the NHS must never be like that – you only have to look across the Atlantic to see why, and why we will continue to resist all attempts to make it like that.”
Speaking about the NHS funding situation, Dr Meldrum said the NHS is in the grip of its greatest financial challenge: “The challenge of ever-increasing demand, finite resources and the most difficult financial situation the NHS – in all four nations – the biggest it has ever faced in its 63 years.
“There is a huge difference between adapt-and-change and slash-and-burn, between carefully planned reorganisations and knee-jerk closures and redundancies, between partnership working amongst health professionals, managers and patients and imposed, top-down, politically motivated diktat.”
The BMA says doctors’ feelings on changes to the NHS pension scheme are running high. The government’s intention to overhaul public sector pensions fails to reflect the recent changes that the NHS pension scheme has only recently undergone.
In March, Lord Hutton published his report on public sector pensions, and said final salary pension schemes would have to end, with other reforms introduced to cut costs. The report found someone retiring now from the NHS at age 60 can expect to spend around 40-45% of their adult life drawing a pension, compared to around a third in the 1980s.
Dr Meldrum said: “We recognise the need to plan for the long term, and ensure the NHS pension scheme is secure and stable, now and in the future. We’re not asking for special treatment – but we are asking for fairness based on the facts.”
Dr Meldrum pointed out that in 2008, doctors’ contributions increased from an average 6% of salary to an average 8.5%, and the retirement age was also increased to 65. The NHS scheme is also in surplus.
Andrew McConaghie
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