16.07.12
Cloak and dagger
Attempts to rescue the ailing NHS funding situation have become snagged once more on another wages fiasco. A leaked report suggesting plans to cut wages and dismiss and rehire staff (amongst other money-saving tactics) in the South West has come to light, to the indignation of many.
The leaked report has angered numerous bodies, like Unison, the RCN and the BMA. Surely, as unpopular as these measures are, the trusts should have realised the potential fallout of their proposals would be worse if they were seen to pursue them independently from consultation with their employees?
The issue of how to save money in the NHS is not going to go away soon but the Consortium’s report seems like a very misguided route to take.
Did the trusts within the consortium think that an agenda of pay cuts, longer hours and reduction of sick benefits would be better served writing a clandestine report?
Certainly, Unison is not impressed by the practices of the consortium, dubbing them a ‘cartel’.
It is unclear, at present, how drastic measures will have to be to save on NHS spending but there won’t be unified movement on the topic until the affected bodies learn to stop viewing each other as antagonists.
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