RCN Eastern warning over hospitals' savings plans

The Royal College of Nursing in the East is warning that local hospitals are planning to make cuts totalling more than quarter of a billion pounds over this financial year.

Regional director for RCN Eastern, Karen Webb, said “We have consistently said to the NHS locally that we cannot support hospitals’ plans for cuts without seeing those plans and understanding the rationale. The savings plans have, unfortunately, tended to be a closely guarded secret.

“Nurses and patients will be understandably nervous about the scope of these plans. In some cases these do look like heroic assumptions about saving millions but the cost to staff morale and to the quality of care for patients is a very high price to pay”.

Data shows that for the year 2012/13 some hospitals are aiming to save up to nearly nine per cent of their budget and the projected plans show cutting staff costs by £104 million. The plans, known in the NHS as Cost Improvement Plans (CIP), come as the NHS as a whole has to save at least £20 billion by 2015.

The biggest saving plan, proportionately, involves Bedford Hospital which aims to save 8.8 per cent of its budget (£13.2 million). The most ambitious savings plan in monetary terms is that of the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital with £35 million (8 per cent of budget) to be saved. Hospitals in the East are planning to save a total of £231 million.

The Department of Health asks NHS trusts to aim for 4 per cent savings in a year and Monitor asks NHS foundation trusts to save between 4.5 and 5.25 per cent. The CIPs show that cutting staff costs is a priority with £104 million identified to be saved.

Three hospitals in the region are planning to slash staffing costs by more than £10 million each this year. The Norfolk and Norwich plans to cut pay costs by £14m, Peterborough by £10.7m and Addenbrooke’s Hospital by £10.5m.

Hospitals have also identified targets for increased income generation, with the Norfolk and Norwich aiming to generate £15 million of additional income and Addenbrooke’s looking to generate an additional £6.5 million.

Karen Webb added: “It remains to be seen how hospitals can generate an extra £50 million of income this year at a time when commissioners are also making savings. For some hospitals the lifting of the cap on private patient work under the new health act might be a temptation to bring in money, and the public may also be hit by increased charging for services like car parking and catering at hospitals.”

The Royal College of Nursing’s Frontline First campaign empowers nursing staff to speak out against the cuts that impact on patient care, expose where they see waste and highlight innovations and new ideas – www.rcn.org.uk/frontlinefirst