NHS to deliver on patient care
Health Secretary calls for NHS to deliver on patient care and save money on waste
Jeremy Hunt, the Health Secretary has called for NHS bosses to deliver on patient care, in light of the additional investment made by the Government. Recently, the Chief Executive of NHS England, Simon Stevens, called for an extra £8 billion funding by 2020. The Health Secretary has made funds available and now calls on the NHS to eliminate waste and help control unnecessary spending, including the use of agencies.
Surprising statistics revealed that the NHS gets charges up to £3,500 per shift for providing a doctor. Additionally, the Department of Health spent over £3.3bn last year on agency nurses.
Carlos Lopez, Head of Clinical negligence at Vincents Solicitors commented, “These are alarming figures particularly at a time when the NHS is clearly already over stretched on budgets. It is important for the NHS to get this balance right, particularly in light of the new cancer drugs which are becoming available. Treatments can be extremely expense. Some of the latest immunotherapy drugs, cost over £5,000 per month. It’s a tragic situation to think that people will be deprived of this kind of treatment simply because a trust hasn’t failed to control its staff finances carefully.”
Additionally, it was announced that over £600 million was spent on management consultancy across the UK. The British Medical Association said the overspend on management consultants had been spent to help hospitals to navigate the government driven reorganisation of the NHS. Dr Peter Carter, head of the Royal college of nursing stated, “this will only work along side longer term solutions, like recruiting more permanent staff and increased training.”
Olivia Robinson, a specialist Clinical negligence solicitor commented “we often see clients who have been victims of medical error due to under resourced hospitals and staff who are over stretched and over worked. In any profession, tired staff can make mistakes but within the NHS, these types of mistakes can cost lives. Members of the team at Vincents have acted for many clients who have suffered serious injury due to poor monitoring or poor communication, as a result of understaffed medical wards in hospitals.”
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