04.01.11
NHS faces a ‘defining year’
The “unprecedented” financial pressure facing the NHS and the upcoming shake-up of the structure of the health service make this a “defining year”, according to the British Medical Association (BMA).
Chairman of the BMA council, Dr Hamish Meldrum, said the reform programme outlined by the Government was “unnecessarily ambitious”.
In his New Year message to doctors, he said: “There is no doubt 2011 will be an exceptionally testing time for the NHS, patients and the profession. Set against a backdrop of an unprecedented financial challenge, with efficiency savings of at least £20bn being sought in England alone, the Government is pushing ahead, at breakneck speed, with an unnecessarily ambitious programme of reform in England.
“The NHS is facing similar financial challenges in the devolved nations and it is only of little comfort that this is not combined with the additional burden of organisational upheaval.”
“As doctors and clinical leaders, your role in dealing with the current demands, protecting the quality of patient care and helping to ensure the future viability of NHS services, will be crucial. I am confident that the profession will rise to the challenge and will do its part to minimise any adverse impact on patients. However, the profession can’t do it alone.”
He said the White Paper, Liberating the NHS, was a “missed opportunity” but added: “Despite some of our scepticism, and, more so, because of our concerns, I believe there is a continuing need for the profession to remain closely involved in how the NHS develops, in putting our evidence for change forward, and in reflecting how the NHS is delivered differently across the UK.
“2011 will be a defining year – one in which the NHS will be tested to the limit.”
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