Government rejects NHS workforce cuts
Updated on 03 September 2009
The government rejects proposals in a report by management consultants McKinsey to cut NHS staff numbers by 10 per cent over the next five years.
A study, commissioned by consultancy firm McKinsey and Company, said around 137,000 jobs would need to go to meet efficiency savings of £20bn. The cuts would have included clinical staff as well as administrators.
The report, seen by the Health Service Journal (HSJ), recommends a range of possible actions such as a recruitment freeze starting in the next two years, a reduction in medical school places from October and an early retirement programme to encourage older GPs and community nurses to make way for "new blood/talent".
Health minister Mike O'Brien said it was right for the government to look for efficiency savings but strongly denied any job cuts.
He said: "Ministers have rejected the suggested proposals in the McKinsey report and there are no plans to adopt these proposals in the future. The Government does not believe the right answer to improving the NHS now or in the future is to cut the NHS workforce. In core frontline services like maternity, nursing and primary care we need more staff rather than fewer."
Royal College of Nursing (RCN) chief executive Peter Carter said fewer nurses could mean more patients would die.
He said: "These proposals are deeply worrying because recent studies show that there is a direct link between the number of nurses working on wards and patient deaths.
"When there are not enough nurses on the ward, patients are more likely to die or experience complications. It is reckless to think about reducing staff levels without considering in detail the impact on patient care."
Any suggestion that community nurses should be encouraged to retire showed a "very poor understanding" of the health service, he said.
