Patients 'will have to wait on trolleys under NHS cuts'

Warning: Virendra Sharma says cuts will cost more 'in the long run'
12 April 2012

Drastic cuts to the NHS could see the return of the "trolley culture" in London hospitals with patients left waiting for days to be seen by a doctor, the Government was warned today.

As it emerged that almost 5,000 medical posts are under threat in the capital, MPs and health experts said the Coalition's plans have the potential to "destroy the nation".

The leading nurses union said 1,500 front-line staff, including doctors and nurses, will lose their jobs in the next four years. These are on top of 3,000 management posts in London that will go. The Royal College of Nurses predicts 27,000 posts will be lost across Britain.

Virendra Sharma MP, of the all-party health select committee, said: "As a result of the cuts, there will be more pressure on GPs, more pressures on hospitals and patients will not get the care they need. We will have more sick people. The policies of this government are finance-led not needs-led."

The Labour MP for Ealing Southall added: "Our health system is what helped build this nation. If this is affected, it has the potential to destroy the nation. It will bring back the trolley culture, where people are left for days on end on trolleys waiting to be seen. In the long run, it will cost us more."

Prime Minister David Cameron, in pre-election pledges, promised to protect the NHS. But Health Secretary Andrew Lansley has said up to £20 billion savings needed to be made by 2014.

A RCN report, based on documents and information gathered under the Freedom of Information Act, warns 26,841 posts have gone or will go.

Shadow health secretary John Healey said: "When David Cameron promised to protect the NHS budget, cuts to jobs and services are not what people were expecting. The RCN's report is a warning for Londoners about the looming problems that NHS staff and patients across the capital will face."

NHS chief executive Sir David Nicholson said he was determined to make sure any "savings" would not "impact adversely on patient care".

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