Trade Unions, Cuts and Honest Debate
The Sunday Herald has an interesting article today about cuts in the NHS - in which the doctors' trade union (the BMA) lets the cat well and truly out of the bag.
Here's an extract of the piece by Tom Gordon, the Sunday Herald's political editor:
"Swinney defiant as doctors call opposition to cuts ‘naive’"
"BMA Scotland said the NHS faced a “real-terms reduction in budgets” and called for a more honest debate about what the NHS “can and cannot deliver in the difficult times ahead”.
Clinicians should help decide “where cuts can be implemented with least impact”, it added.
It also emerged that Scotland’s NHS chief executives have suggested charging patients for some “hotel” services and fining people who miss their appointments.
The BMA’s comments, in an overlooked submission to last week’s Independent Budget Review, are at odds with the SNP Government’s commitment to protect Scottish NHS spending.
However, the unprecedented scale of cuts being imposed by the Treasury means Swinney may have little option, as sparing the NHS, which consumes one-third of Scotland’s £30 billion budget, would lead to devastating cuts elsewhere.
Last week’s Independent Budget Review laid out options for dealing with a £3.7bn drop in Scottish public spending by 2015 – the equivalent to £700 for every man, woman, and child.
It recommended up to 50,000 job cuts, pay freezes, an end to universal free services, and said it found no overwhelming rationale for exempting big spending departments from cuts.
Yet after the Review, Swinney restated the Government commitment to protecting the NHS.
It has now emerged that the medical profession itself is gearing up for cuts and taking a less dogmatic line than ministers.
In its submission to the Review, BMA Scotland said cuts would be a “seismic shock” to the NHS, but accepted they would happen.
“If the scale of real-terms reduction in public spending in Scotland is anything like that envisaged by the Review, it would be naive to believe that the healthcare budget, one-third of Scottish Government expenditure, could remain immune from its impact,” it said.
The doctors’ union also called for some NHS targets to be scrapped, allowing health boards more say in the services they deliver.
“It is vital that decisive action is taken now to start prioritising the core functions of the NHS to ensure they are protected as far as possible from the effects of the budget cuts and that quality of care and patient safety are maintained.”
However, it strongly objected to freezing NHS pay."
So, having called for an honest debate - the doctors' trade union goes on to object strongly to a freeze on NHS pay.
In other words the BMA is objecting to a freeze in their members pay - despite the fact that GPs and hospital consultants have enjoyed absolutely enormous salary increases in recent years - as a result of their new NHS contracts.
Many are now paid well in excess of £100,000 a year - yet the BMA says they should be exempt from taking their share of any harsh medicine.
So, there you have it - the trade union wants to have its cake and eat it - all at the same time.
More like Alice in Wonderland - than honest debate - if you ask me.
Here's an extract of the piece by Tom Gordon, the Sunday Herald's political editor:
"Swinney defiant as doctors call opposition to cuts ‘naive’"
"BMA Scotland said the NHS faced a “real-terms reduction in budgets” and called for a more honest debate about what the NHS “can and cannot deliver in the difficult times ahead”.
Clinicians should help decide “where cuts can be implemented with least impact”, it added.
It also emerged that Scotland’s NHS chief executives have suggested charging patients for some “hotel” services and fining people who miss their appointments.
The BMA’s comments, in an overlooked submission to last week’s Independent Budget Review, are at odds with the SNP Government’s commitment to protect Scottish NHS spending.
However, the unprecedented scale of cuts being imposed by the Treasury means Swinney may have little option, as sparing the NHS, which consumes one-third of Scotland’s £30 billion budget, would lead to devastating cuts elsewhere.
Last week’s Independent Budget Review laid out options for dealing with a £3.7bn drop in Scottish public spending by 2015 – the equivalent to £700 for every man, woman, and child.
It recommended up to 50,000 job cuts, pay freezes, an end to universal free services, and said it found no overwhelming rationale for exempting big spending departments from cuts.
Yet after the Review, Swinney restated the Government commitment to protecting the NHS.
It has now emerged that the medical profession itself is gearing up for cuts and taking a less dogmatic line than ministers.
In its submission to the Review, BMA Scotland said cuts would be a “seismic shock” to the NHS, but accepted they would happen.
“If the scale of real-terms reduction in public spending in Scotland is anything like that envisaged by the Review, it would be naive to believe that the healthcare budget, one-third of Scottish Government expenditure, could remain immune from its impact,” it said.
The doctors’ union also called for some NHS targets to be scrapped, allowing health boards more say in the services they deliver.
“It is vital that decisive action is taken now to start prioritising the core functions of the NHS to ensure they are protected as far as possible from the effects of the budget cuts and that quality of care and patient safety are maintained.”
However, it strongly objected to freezing NHS pay."
So, having called for an honest debate - the doctors' trade union goes on to object strongly to a freeze on NHS pay.
In other words the BMA is objecting to a freeze in their members pay - despite the fact that GPs and hospital consultants have enjoyed absolutely enormous salary increases in recent years - as a result of their new NHS contracts.
Many are now paid well in excess of £100,000 a year - yet the BMA says they should be exempt from taking their share of any harsh medicine.
So, there you have it - the trade union wants to have its cake and eat it - all at the same time.
More like Alice in Wonderland - than honest debate - if you ask me.
