George Osborne’s front-loaded NHS funds are misleadingly portrayed as “extra” money, when it is money already promised for this parliament on previous occasions (Editorial, 25 November). The NHS clearly needs an extra £30bn by 2021 to keep up. Yet he has only promised £10bn, unrealistically expecting £20bn of savings. For instance, hernia operations costing £1,000 now will be expected by the Treasury to cost £815 in 2021 for a similar, if not better, standard. This is a frighteningly unrealistic expectation for a health system already among the world’s most efficient. Efficiency savings are fast becoming a euphemism for funding cuts.
As it is near-impossible to find such year-on-year efficiency savings, NHS trusts will be pushed to a deficit of £2.2bn this year to avoid compromising patient care through cuts. It is unsafe to expect the same scale of savings to 2020. Independent experts are clear: rapidly expanding, non-emergency seven-day services will need extra staff and funding, estimated to be several billions of pounds more. Moreover, NHS England CEO Simon Stevens has specifically said seven-day services would need to be gradually introduced, with “careful and disciplined phasing-in”. Yet no extra money for this has appeared – meaning more cuts to provide something with little public demand. Public health, social care and nursing student grants appear to be next in line for cuts.
In April 2015, the health secretary promised to work with all political parties and professionals on properly funding and staffing the NHS. As NHS staff and students, we urge him to maintain the spirit of this promise, in open discussion with the professions and other political parties. The safety of the public deserves nothing less.
Dr Mohsin Khan Core psychiatry trainee, London
Dr Don Milliken ST4 in anaesthetics, London
Dr Palak Trivedi Academic clinical lecturer and registrar in hepatology and gastroenterology, NIHR Centre for Liver Research, University of Birmingham
Dr Phyllida Roe CT1 psychiatry
Dr Rebecca Spooner CT3 psychiatry
Mr Adam Sykes ST4 orthopaedics
Dr Emma Hodson ST3 anaesthetics/Wellcome Trust doctoral training fellow
Dr Rosie Grover Clinical research fellow
Dr Kim Gentle CMT CT1
Dr Emilie Hoogenboom ST6 anaesthesia
Dr Ahmed Shalabi ST3 gastroenterology
Dr Tom Palmer ST2 Emergency medicine
Dr Sophie Unell Anaesthetics trainee
Dr Mark Ibrahim ST7 anaesthetics
Dr Neil Tiwari Clinical fellow post ACCS EM, Paediatric A&E
Dr Joe Lipton ST4 anaesthetics
Dr Sarah Muldoon ST4 anaesthetics
Mr Charles Baker ST7 obstetrics and gynaecology
Dr Kim Pramanik GPST1
Dr Victoria Matthews ST3 public health medicine
Dr Faezeh Godazgar CT2 anaesthetics
Dr Gaj Sivadhas GP
Dr Gagan Bhatnagar ST3 clinical oncology
Miss Farida Ali Consultant plastic surgeon
Dr Parveen Dhaliwal ST5 radiology
Dr Alexander Davidson FY2
Miss Anna Maclure SAS urology
Miss Sarah Barkley ST4 orthopaedics
Dr Kirsten Bonney GPST1
Dr Veronika Wagner Associate specialist
Dr Alex Leigh ST4 anaesthetics
Miss Bevin McCartan ST3 emergency medicine
Dr Sofia Cuevas-Asturias Paediatrics trainee
Miss Natalie Bohm Clinical academic lecturer ENT
Dr Karthik Balasubramaniam ST5 cardiology
Dr Susanna Ritchie-McLean ST4 anaesthetics and intensive care
Miss Catherine Hunsley ST4 obstetrics and gynaecology
Dr Hannaa Kotb SpR radiology
Mr William Gewanter Year-five medical student
Miss Paula Bradley ST6 Otolaryngology
Dr Ben White ST4 Gastroenterology
Miss Suman Kadian ST7 obstetrics and gynaecology
Dr Hoong-Wei Gan Clinical research fellow/ ST6 paediatric endocrinology
Mr John-Paul Whittaker Consultant, Trauma and orthopaedic surgery
Dr Jonathan Kong F2 General practice
Dr Ben Millette ST5 Anaesthetics and intensive care
Dr Lucy Higgins ST4 Obstetrics and gynaecology
Dr Hamed Khan GP, A&E doctor, Clinical lecturer
Mr MJ Hallam ST5 Plastic surgery
Dr Dagan Lonsdale ST5 Intensive care medicine and clinical pharmacology
Dr Fenella Corrick Paediatrics SHO and MRes student child health
Dr Amman Sarang Consultant in anaesthesia and intensive care
Dr Neil Tiwari Clinical fellow, Paediatrics, A&E
Dr Daniel McNaughton CT2 Anaesthetics
Dr T Munroe-Gray CT2 Core surgery
Dr J Cooper FY2 General practice
Dr Ruth Davis Consultant clinical oncologist
Mr Usman Ahmed ST6 T&O
Mr Rajan Kumar Sood Fifth-year medical student
Mr Louis Peakall Fourth-year medical student
Dr Mary Green Speciality doctor, Cardiology
Mr Kishan Rajdev Final-year medical student, UCL
Dr Anoop Shah ST5 Clinical pharmacology and general medicine
Mr James McHugh ST6 Ophthalmology
Dr Ian Gauntlett Consultant anaesthetist
Dr Ashmal Jameel ST3 Ophthalmology
Dr Nora Jaafar FY1 General surgery
Dr Claire Noor ST6 Obstetrics and gynecology
Dr D Turton CT1 Anaesthetics
Mr Matthew Dawson Third-year medical student
Dr Naomi Bennett FY2
Mr Sonny Harvey Fourth-year medical student
Dr Mark Barley Consultant anaesthetist
Dr Rachel Lawton Consultant anaesthetist
Dr David McLaughlan ST4 psychiatrist
Dr Lorna McCune GP Principal
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