Labour reveals cost of NHS reorganisation in Devon and Cornwall

News from Cornwall Labour

Labour reveals cost of NHS reorganisation in Devon and Cornwall

By Cornwall Labour ⋅ April 17, 2012 ⋅ Post a comment

The NHS in Devon and Cornwall is facing the highest costs in the South West as a result of David Cameron’s reorganisation of our health service, according to government figures released this month.

New, official figures from the Department of Health have shown that Devon and Cornwall spent £566,000 on making staff redundant – though many are expected to be re-employed elsewhere in the healthcare system. And this is just the first phase of redundancies – further damaging figures are expected in the summer.

The new figures come as a leaked Government ‘business case’ for its Health Bill confirms the vast overall costs of the Government’s NHS reorganisation. It confirms that a staggering £82,753,389 is being spent on reorganisation in Devon and Cornwall instead of paying for patient care.

The government ordered 2 per cent of Primary Care Trust budget to be held back in 2011-12 and 2012-13 – amounting to £3.45bn across England. Costs in Devon and Cornwall are among the highest in the South West area.

Ben Bradshaw, MP for Exeter and former Health Minister, said; “This confirms what I and other critics of the Government’s NHS upheaval have said from the outset – that it’s madness to inflict an ill-thought-through reorganisation on the service at the time of the tightest ever spending constraint. I predict the Government will have to spend a great deal more repairing the damage they are doing if we’re to avoid major problems in the NHS in the months ad years to come.”

Jude Robinson, Camborne Councillor and member of Cornwall’s Health Scrutiny Committee said; “This is bad news for patients across Cornwall and Devon. Staggering amounts of money are being spent on redundancy and reorganisation while our health service is under more pressure than ever before.”

Andy Burnham MP, Labour’s Shadow Health Secretary, said; “It is nothing short of scandalous that the Prime Minister is wasting billions on a unnecessary re-organisation whilst also cutting 4,000 nurses’ jobs.

“In Opposition, David Cameron promised no top-down re-organisation of the NHS. In office, he brought forward the biggest ever. Cameron is an NHS con-man and we will hold him to account for his betrayal of patients and staff.

“He has inflicted chaos on the NHS and patients are paying the price in longer waits and a growing postcode lottery.

“The argument in Westminster may be over but Labour is taking the battle for the NHS to every town, street and doorstep. We will be, as we have always been, the last line of defence for the NHS in your community. A vote for Labour in May is a positive vote for the NHS.”

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