A group set up last year to defend NHS services in Enfield is calling on members of the public to sign a petition demanding that health secretary Jeremy Hunt reveals the plans that are being drawn up to slash expenditure on the NHS in Enfield and throughout north London.
Defend Enfield NHS (DENHS) point out that "North Central London" is among the areas selected to be first to implement a "capped expenditure process". At present clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) in this area, comprising Enfield, Barnet, Islington, Camden and Haringey, are spending more than the amount allocated to them. The government considers that the CCGs are "overspending", but DENHS take the view that they are simply underfunded - a view that is supported by a considerable number of expert bodies.
The introduction of "capped expenditure" implies that the CCGs will be prevented from "overspending". In order not to do so they will be forced to refuse treatment on the NHS to patients in their boroughs. It will also involve significant closures of NHS facilities - only today, for example, it was revealed that almost the whole of Charing Cross Hospital is to be sold off. resulting in the loss of more than 300 acute beds.at Charing Cross, which is in Hammersmith, in the North West London STP area.
The NHS cuts are being planned in secret, and DENHS are asking concerned members of the public to sign an online petition organised by 38 Degrees calling on the health secretary to publish the plans - for information see the box below.)
The NHS in Enfield
(Source: 38 Degrees)
Health Minister Jeremy Hunt is about to sign-off secret plans to force changes to local NHS services. And it’s all just to cut costs. The plans could mean cuts to hospital beds, making waiting times longer, and cutting NHS staff. [1]
The plans - called a "capped expenditure process" - are being finished right now and Enfield, Southgate is in the shortlist of areas which could get the first round of cuts. [2] Because the plans are secret, it's hard to say exactly which services near you could be at risk. But the scale of the threat is clear - NHS bosses have been told to 'think the unthinkable' for these plans. [3] No wonder Jeremy Hunt doesn't want us to see them!
The best way to stop these cuts is to get them out in the open and demand that our NHS is funded properly. So please can you sign the petition now, demanding that Jeremy Hunt publishes these plans for local NHS cuts? It only takes 30 seconds to add your name:
SIGN THE PETITIONIf you’re thinking this all sounds a bit familiar, you’d be right. Together, we’ve exposed Jeremy Hunt’s secret plans before. Last summer, thousands of us chipped in to investigate the first round of secret NHS cuts called "sustainability and transformation plans". [4] We made headlines, from BBC News, to the front page of the Guardian. Our people-powered research was even quoted in Parliament as MP after MP said how shocked they were about the plans. [5]
Now the threat has grown, it needs more of us to get involved. NHS bosses are being forced to think about closing services like A&Es and maternity units, and stopping funding for treatments like IVF, all because of concerns about not having enough money. [6] This could change the NHS as we know it.
If we're going to stop these cuts, it’s going to take all of us to force them into the spotlight. None of us could have exposed Jeremy Hunt's first round of secret cuts plans on our own. But that's what's special about 38 Degrees. Hundreds of thousands of us club together to sign petitions, chip-in for investigations and tell our MPs what we care about. And it works.
Some doctors and nurses are already speaking out. [7] Will you join them and sign the petition to reveal the plans and prove our NHS needs more funding, not cuts?
There's nothing wrong with drawing up plans to change our NHS if they're going to make it better for patients and be funded properly. But that's not going to happen if they're drawn up in secret to cut costs and cut services.
We all need the NHS at the best and the worst times of our lives - the maternity ward, the operating theatre, the doctor’s surgery. If enough of us get involved, we can turn this threat into an opportunity to speak up for the NHS we want to see in the future.
The first step is by adding your name to the petition now:
https://link.38degrees.org.uk/NHS_secret_cuts
NOTES:
[1] Health Service Journal (behind a paywall): Exclusive: New national savings drive will 'challenge the values' of NHS leaders:
https://www.hsj.co.uk/topics/finance-and-efficiency/exclusive-new-national-savings-drive-will-challenge-the-values-of-nhs-leaders/7018461.article
The Mirror: NHS chiefs are told to secretly draw up more cuts - with wards, A&Es and funding of IVF at risk of being scrapped:
http://www.mirror.co.uk/lifestyle/health/nhs-chiefs-told-secretly-draw-10574334
[2] The first 14 regions in England forced to make these plans are: Bristol, South Gloucestershire and North Somerset; Cambridgeshire and Peterborough; Cheshire (Eastern, Vale Royal and South); Cornwall; Devon; Morecambe Bay; Northumbria; North Central London; North Lincolnshire; North West London; South East London; Staffordshire; Surrey and Sussex; Vale of York and Scarborough and Ryedale.
The Independent:
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/health/nhs-cost-cutting-plans-conservatives-leaked-campaigners-election-2017-a7775571.html
[3] ITV News: Parts of the NHS considering "savage" cuts:
http://www.itv.com/news/granada/2017-06-07/parts-of-the-nhs-considering-savage-cuts/
[4, 5] 38 Degrees blog: The 38 Degrees crowdfunded investigation into secret NHS plans:
https://home.38degrees.org.uk/2016/08/26/38-degrees-crowdfunded-investigation-secret-nhs-plans/
38 Degrees blog: Investigating secret plans for NHS cuts:
https://home.38degrees.org.uk/2016/11/22/investigating-secret-plans-nhs-cuts/
[6] The Mirror: NHS chiefs are told to secretly draw up more cuts - with wards, A&Es and funding of IVF at risk of being scrapped:
http://www.mirror.co.uk/lifestyle/health/nhs-chiefs-told-secretly-draw-10574334
BBC News: Is NHS rationing a possibility?:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-40190597
[7] One NHS boss told Health Service Journal that some of the options being considered would "challenge the value base" of the NHS. Jeremy Hunt and NHS England wanted these plans to stay secret for now, but NHS bosses are so worried they've spoken out.
Health Service Journal (behind a paywall): Exclusive: New national savings drive will 'challenge the values' of NHS leaders:
https://www.hsj.co.uk/topics/finance-and-efficiency/exclusive-new-national-savings-drive-will-challenge-the-values-of-nhs-leaders/7018461.article
