News
comment from the Royal
College
of Nursing (RCN), UK.
Commenting on the publication of the NHS Confederation report Dealing with
the downturn: the greatest ever leadership challenge for the NHS, Dr Peter Carter,
Chief Executive & General Secretary of the Royal College of Nursing (RCN),
said:
"This report paints a particularly bleak picture for the NHS over
the next couple of years, which is deeply concerning. During a downturn, health
can suffer and the NHS must be fit to deal with this. We are in total agreement
with the NHS Confederation that cutting staffing levels and training would
only exacerbate problems in an already stretched health service.
In times of financial difficulty, the need for stringent evaluation to
ensure all spending offers genuine value for money, and that funding intended
for patient care does not get siphoned off elsewhere, is even more important.
Our recent Freedom of Information request revealed that £350 million
pounds a year is spent on management consultants, of which over £273
million was not related to direct patient care. This could account for more
than 10% of the NHS savings expected by the Government. Every individual Trust
needs to ask themselves if they need to take on a management consultant for
certain tasks."
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Ltd.. Material in this news item was released by the Royal College of Nursing
(RCN) on 10 June 2009
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