West Yorkshire Strategic Health Authority

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The summary articles in the table below related to the strategic health authority area are copied from the following pages, indicated in the table by key numbers.

  1. Charges
  2. Construction projects
  3. Resource shortfall Sources
  4. Treatment approval or not
  5. Withdrawal of Local Facilities - Sources
    Other
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1 2 3 4 5

Summary articles
          Penicillin error puts woman in coma.  Guardian Society Friday November 9, 2001 [Bradford]
  2       Is it not a touch ironic that an NHS hospital in Scarborough is being forced to open beds for private patients (Private arrangement, July 24) while here in Calderdale the local NHS trust has, in the last year, been obliged to send over 500 patients to the neighbouring Bupa hospital for treatment because of bed shortages in the new PFI-funded Calderdale Royal hospital?  Ian Wishart, Chislehurst, Kent, Readers' letters Guardian Wednesday July 31, 2002
    3     An ambulance service has been left with debts of £10m because of problems with a staffing agency it helped run, the audit commission said today. Tuesday March 18, 2003 [West Yorkshire]
          A leading hospital has revised the monitoring of patient admissions and records after admitting that it "lost" a confused and seriously ill pensioner for three days. Martin Wainwright Friday March 28, 2003 The Guardian [Bradford]
          Where the treatment centres will be. The health secretary, John Reid, today announced details of the government's controversial programme of privately run fast-track diagnostic and treatment centres, and a number of new mobile ophthalmology units. This guide explains where they will be. Friday September 12, 2003 [South-west peninsula (Mercury Health Ltd), Lincolnshire (Mercury Health Ltd), Horton hospital, north Oxford (Mercury Health Ltd), North-east Yorks (Mercury Health Ltd), Southampton (Mercury Health Ltd), Northumberland (Mercury Health Ltd), East Berkshire (Slough, Bracknell, Maidenhead and Windsor/Ascot) (Mercury Health Ltd), Didcot, Oxfordshire (Mercury Health Ltd), Ashford, Surrey (Mercury Health Ltd), Maidstone (Care UK Afrox), Barlborough Links, Nottinghamshire (Care UK Afrox), Derriford, Plymouth (Care UK Afrox), Chase Farm, Barnet, London (Anglo Canadian), King George hospital, Redbridge (Anglo Canadian), Royal National throat nose and ear hospital, Kings Cross, London (Anglo Canadian), Bradford (Nations Healthcare), Burton (Nations Healthcare), Daventry (Birkdale Clinic), Trafford, Greater Manchester (Netcare UK), Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital, Stanmore (New York Presbyterian), Shepton Mallet, Somerset (New York Presbyterian).
Two mobile units will offer ophthalmology services in the following areas: Cheshire and Merseyside (Netcare UK), Cumbria and Lancashire (Netcare UK), Horton, Oxfordshire (Netcare UK), Wycombe, Bucks (Netcare UK), North Tyneside (Netcare UK), South-west Oxfordshire (Netcare UK), North-west peninsula (Netcare UK), Dorset/Somerset (Netcare UK), Kent/Medway (Netcare UK), Hants and Isle of Wight (Netcare UK), Surrey and Sussex (Netcare UK), Thames Valley (Netcare UK)]
          A leading teaching hospital apologised to a young mother yesterday after the body of her stillborn daughter was found in a mortuary two months after a burial service for her had been held. Martin Wainwright Friday November 14, 2003 The Guardian [Leeds]
          A city hospital apologised yesterday after five patients were wrongly injected with an anti-tuberculosis vaccine during treatment for eyelid conditions. Staff at Bradford Royal Infirmary mistook the medicine for Botox, which had been prescribed to ease blepharospasm, a muscular spasm which prevents control of the eyelids. Martin Wainwright Wednesday August 4, 2004 The Guardian
          The humble mop and bucket with the lingering smell of disinfectant are as traditional a part of hospitals as doctors, nurses and patients. But they have become consigned to the history books at five Yorkshire hospitals in an effort to combat superbugs such as MRSA. Domestic staff in the Airedale NHS Trust hospitals are now equipped with special microfibre mops, cloths and trolleys which reduce the physical effort needed yet remove much more dirt. Helen Carter Friday November 26, 2004 The Guardian
    3     A financial crisis at one of the government's flagship foundation hospitals escalated yesterday when the independent regulator warned that its expected deficit has trebled over the past month to £11.3m. William Moyes, the chairman of Monitor, the foundation trusts' regulatory body, said Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS trust hushed up its financial difficulties for four months until he found out about them in a routine accounting exercise in August. John Carvel, social affairs editor Saturday November 27, 2004 The Guardian
          Commuters will be able to get free medical attention on their way to and from work at a chain of NHS walk-in centres to be built near city-centre stations, the government announced yesterday. John Hutton, the health minister, said the first seven centres would open in the spring in London, Newcastle, Manchester and Leeds at a cost of £25m over the first three years. John Carvel, social affairs editor Thursday November 4, 2004
    3     A £30m rescue plan to correct persistent failings of management at England's most troubled NHS trust was approved by the government yesterday. The money will be used to fund a five-year recovery plan, identify doctors with poor clinical results and stop feuding between rival departments at the trust's hospitals in Pontefract, Wakefield and Dewsbury. John Carvel Friday February 18, 2005 The Guardian
  2       Banks and property developers made windfall profits of £73m by refinancing one of the Labour government's first privately financed hospitals, the 989-bed Norfolk and Norwich hospital, the National Audit Office reveals in a report published today. The windfall is the third to be disclosed by parliament's financial watchdog after complaints from MPs and the public. The other two are Fazakerley prison in Liverpool and the Dartford and Gravesham hospital. The report says that funding for five other privately financed hospitals - South Buckinghamshire, Calderdale, North Durham, Bromley and South Manchester - could also yield windfall profits for developers.  David Hencke, Westminster correspondent Friday June 10, 2005 The Guardian
    3     The NHS is preparing to cut up to 1,260 jobs at its largest teaching hospital as part of a fresh round of cuts to avert a financial crisis in "overspending" trusts. Papers being submitted today to the board of Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust propose a freeze on all recruitment for the next nine months to achieve a £12m reduction in the wage bill. Doctors, nurses and ancillary staff who retire or move to another hospital will not be replaced. John Carvel, social affairs editor Thursday July 7, 2005 The Guardian
    3     Effect of NHS financial crisis felt around Yorkshire. At Barnsley's hospital, £700,000 has been saved with the loss of 35 posts; Rotherham hospital is planning to slash pay costs of non-clinical staff by 10%; hospitals in Sheffield are trying to save £20m due to losses resulting from payment by results and the extra costs of meeting targets; beleaguered Selby and York PCT has predicted debts of £23.7m, and Sheffield's PCTs have combined deficits of £17; Airedale NHS Trust has had to sell former staff residences and increase car parking charges to try to stay in balance. Hundreds of operations are being delayed in north Lincolnshire. Scarborough, Whitby and Ryedale PCT, facing a £6.5m overspend, is interrogating hospitals as to why operations are being performed within a month. The trust's director of finance said: "There are more people going into hospital than we can afford. Hospitals in York and Scarborough are treating patients in three months - the national target is six months - and we are looking to slow some of those procedures." Summary by Keep our NHS Public of Yorkshire Post 4 January 2006
          Private clinic claims it is not liable for failings. A company that runs an IS-TC is seeking to appeal against a court ruling holding it legally liable if treatment goes wrong. Frances Johnson sued the Birkdale Clinic in West Yorkshire over a cataract operation that encountered complications. Summary by Keep our NHS Public of  British Medical Journal 13 January 2006
          Primary care opened up to commercial operators. The health white paper will announce six pilot schemes to open up the primary care market to companies such as United Health and Care UK. The projects will be centrally procured "to get economies of scale and to tempt new providers with significant capital backing". PCTs will then decide which services they want, including services in high streets and supermarkets, nurse-led practices and diagnostic centres that combine health and social care. The pilots will operate in London, Liverpool, Bradford, Plymouth and Ribble Valley, with ten more areas lined-up. Hewitt will also launch a "social enterprise unit" to aid professionals in setting up not-for-profit businesses. The FT says: "This is aimed, over time, at creating a purchaser/ provider split under which PCTs will chiefly purchase from a growing range of independent providers." Department of Health sources say the shift from hospitals to community care will move 5% of activity out of hospitals over a decade, about £2.5bn a year. This would force reconfiguration and in some cases closures. Meanwhile the increase in payment for treatments will only be 1.5% next year. This below inflation rise is intended to save £3bn in order to eliminate trusts' structural deficits and overspends and increase efficiency. It has been described by John Appleby, Kings Fund chief economist, as "very challenging if not impossible". Summary by Keep our NHS Public of Financial Times 28 January 2006
        5 Patients pledge to challenge hospital cutbacks. The Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust board has approved plans to cut vital services at Leeds General Infirmary - but the patients affected have vowed to oppose the move. Renal services will be moved from LGI and split between St James's and Seacroft Hospital. Patients fear the lack of emergency facilities at Seacroft could put lives at risk. They feel the hospital management has bulldozed through the move, which will mean longer journeys for many very sick patients. Summary by Keep our NHS Public of Yorkshire Evening Post 3 February 2006
          Shoppers get NHS walk-in centre. Plans for the country's first NHS walk-in centre in a shopping centre have been unveiled at the Light complex in Leeds. Summary by Keep our NHS Public of  BBC Online 23 February 2006
    3     Hospital trusts reduce deficits. Bill Moyes, chairman of the foundation trust regulator Monitor, expects 28 hospitals to be awarded foundation status by next March - meaning the total number will double. Bradford, Peterborough and Stamford, and Royal Devon and Exeter foundation trusts have cut their deficits this year, but UCHL's has grown. Summary by Keep our NHS Public of  Times 14 March 2006
    3     Health trusts must rethink axe plans. Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust has been told by the city council's health scrutiny committee to consult on and alter its plans for service changes or be referred to Patricia Hewitt. The committee expressed concerns about proposals to shift renal services from Leeds General Infirmary and split them between St James's and Seacroft Hospitals. Councillor Lancaster said: "The board was not happy with the response from the trust. They say they didn't have time (to consult with patients). But that isn't good enough." Summary by Keep our NHS Public of  Yorkshire Evening Post 17 March 2006
          Significant numbers of women may have been put at risk of their breast cancer returning because they were not given the best care at a hospital in the Bradford NHS Trust, according to a cancer statistician. The claims, based on a data analysis by Michel Coleman, professor of epidemiology at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, are disputed by the trust. Professor Coleman found that women under the care of a particular surgical team were far less likely to be referred for radiotherapy to kill off remaining cancer cells after an operation to remove the tumour. Around 150 women who would have been expected to receive radiotherapy did not get it, he says, mostly in the 10 years from 1988 to 1998. Prof Coleman's allegations will be broadcast as part of a BBC Panorama investigation tomorrow night. Sarah Boseley, health editor Saturday April 1, 2006 The Guardian
        5 Time is running out to save a crisis-torn health service. Nicholas Timmins argues for NHS reconfiguration but points to the political pressures against this. In Halifax and Huddersfield, a proposal to relocate surgery and maternity services and make some other changes has led to managers and doctors being abused at public meetings. A candidate is expected to run in next month's local elections on a "save our hospital" ticket. Timmins writes that on hospital reconfiguration, Patricia Hewitt "flunked her first big test recently in hugely over-spent Surrey. She overturned years of work and disregarded all advice to rule that a new critical care hospital should be located in Labour, rather than Tory, territory - on a site that did not even have planning permission." Summary by Keep our NHS Public of  Financial Times 3 April 2006
          Angry dentists quit the NHS in droves. One in nine dental practices in Yorkshire have quit the NHS amid anger over their new contracts. Ninety practices out of 800 in the region have left for the private sector. Summary by Keep our NHS Public of  Yorkshire Post 6 April 2006 [North and East Yorkshire and Northern Lincolnshire Strategic Health Authority, South Yorkshire Strategic Health Authority, West Yorkshire Strategic Health Authority]
    3     NHS levy on trusts 'will lead to cuts in services'. Health chiefs have warned of wider cuts in services in Yorkshire under plans to impose a levy on NHS trusts as part of desperate efforts to shore-up health service finances. Gordon Firth, chairman of Barnsley Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, said his organisation would lose £6m and inevitably frontline services would be affected. Health chiefs in North Lincolnshire predict the levy will cost £4.5m, further adding to a difficult financial position. A 12-point action plan is being drawn up including deferring non-urgent surgery, reducing hospital referrals and outpatient follow-up appointments and cutting spending on mental health and the voluntary care sector. Summary by Keep our NHS Public of  Yorkshire Post 20 April 2006 [also West Yorkshire]
          Treatment centre programme in disarray as contracts axed. The DoH has been forced to scrap a large swathe of its second-wave independent treatment centre programme nearly a year after it invited private sector organisations to bid for the lucrative contracts. Seven of the 24 local schemes have been axed, with the rest being delayed by up to a year. Those axed include two of the most high profile schemes, in South Yorkshire. The climbdown came after the DoH was forced to acknowledge claims by SHAs and PCTs that more elective capacity was not needed in their regions. Companies bidding for the work received letters from the DoH's commercial directorate saying: "It has become clear for a variety of reasons that the detailed make-up of the schemes needs to be reviewed and that these schemes will not go ahead as part of the phase-two procurement programme. We are currently exploring options to replace the capacity of these schemes." The DoH has told private providers that the monetary value of the schemes - £550m worth of work per year - will still be guaranteed. Meanwhile the other 17 remaining schemes have been delayed for up to a year. NHS Confederation policy director Nigel Edwards said: "What is becoming increasingly clear is that the level of surgical elective capacity is enough, if not too much. The problem is now one of patient flow rather than capacity, and there has been a growing anxiety that too much capacity had been procured and this has become a big issue." The second part of the wave two contract, known as the 'extended choice network', under which the DoH was set to buy elective services on top of the initial national schemes, has also been delayed indefinitely. However, the diagnostic element of the second wave is unaffected. The cancelled projects are: County Durham and Tees Valley - multi-specialty treatment centre; Birmingham and the Black Country - Birmingham City treatment centre to be housed on site at Sandwell and West Birmingham Hospitals trust; South Yorkshire - cardiology treatment centre; South Yorkshire - general surgery treatment centre; South West Peninsula - multi-specialty mobile unit; West Yorkshire - plastic surgery unit; West Yorkshire - multi-specialty treatment centre. Summary by Keep our NHS Public of  Health Service Journal 27 April 2006
        5 Why the NHS is on the ballot paper. Overview and scrutiny committee's (OSCs) of local authorities can demand NHS chief executives appear before them and set their own agendas of what they want to examine, as well as being consulted on major NHS changes. As such they can have a big impact on reconfigurations, and parties could campaign in local elections on the claim that their party was the one standing up most strongly for their local hospital. All this explains why many councillors are making the NHS a bigger issue at elections than ever before. For example in Kirklees three Save Huddersfield NHS candidates could hold the balance of power on the council if elected. The trio have been leading the campaign against plans to move services from their local hospital to Halifax. Tens of thousands of people have signed petitions and attended demonstrations. Service changes at the hospital have recently been accepted by the trust but the group is seeking a judicial review, and Kirklees council OSC has also expressed reservations, referring changes to maternity services to the health secretary. In West Sussex, Conservative county council leader Henry Smith says the loss of services at Crawley Hospital has had a big impact on local politics, and recent job losses announced by Surrey and Sussex Healthcare trust are uppermost in residents' minds. The East Sussex committee, which covers an area where the health service has struggled in recent years, has a high profile and a reputation for tough questioning. In Rochdale the OSC supported a proposed restructuring of services, which has been attacked as a downgrading of local services. Local Liberal Democrat MP Paul Rowen has steadfastly opposed changes and his party sees it as a major issue in the local elections. OSCs look set to become the forums on which public concern about local service redesigns are vocalised. Summary by Keep our NHS Public of  Health Service Journal 4 May 2006
          Volatile voters get a glimpse of the post-Blair landscape. A Save Huddersfield NHS candidate was elected in the West Yorkshire borough of Kirklees in last week's local elections. Summary by Keep our NHS Public of  Observer 7 May 2006
          Local protests bring in votes. Local opposition to NHS reorganisations provided the catalyst for single-issue party candidates standing in last week's local elections. GP Dr Jacqueline Gunsell was elected to Kirklees council on the Save Huddersfield Health Campaign ticket. She was one of three candidates standing in protest at plans to move services from their local hospital in Halifax. She won with 2,176 votes, a majority of 700 over the second placed Liberal Democrats. The Save Chase Farm Hospital Party won two seats on Conservative-controlled Enfield council. It fielded nine candidates who are opposed to proposals to close the hospital's accident emergency service as part of a wider reconfiguration. A total of 12,456 people voted for the party whose policy is opposition to the closure of A& E and to any changes to existing women and children's services. The Independent Kidderminster Hospital and Health Concern Group gained one new seat on Wyre Forest council and is now the second largest party after the Conservatives. Summary by Keep our NHS Public of  Health Service Journal 11 May 2006
    3     Problem trust plots bright new future. Mid Yorkshire Hospitals trust has been taken off 'special measures' after making progress on its deficit, but chief executive John Parkes has said that around 1,000 jobs could be cut over the next five years as it attempts to cut costs. He said redundancies could not be ruled out. Cuts would probably come from freezing 500 vacancies, reducing agency staff and moving staff to primary care. Summary by Keep our NHS Public of  Health Service Journal 11 May 2006
    3     Hundreds more hospital posts are to be axed as another NHS Trust aims to cut costs. Around 430 posts will be lost at the Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust as part of an attempt by health chiefs to save £84 million over the next three years. Saturday May 13, 2006 5:58 AM
  2       Affordability of 23 PFI hospitals put under scrutiny. The affordability of 23 PFI hospital schemes with a capital value of £6bn will come under scrutiny as plans to move care out of hospitals press ahead. A Department of Health study which could lead to a reduction in the size of the schemes will take "no longer than four to five months" to complete. It is the next stage in the review into PFI hospital projects announced earlier this year. The new study will look at the viability of big projects in Liverpool, the Home Counties, Leeds and the Midlands that have not yet gone to market. Lord Warner, the health minister, said it was not possible to say in advance whether the review would alter the overall value of £7 - £9bn of PFI projects in the pipeline, but he said the experience of the cancelled Paddington Basin project showed that business cases needed to be looked at "with a lot more rigour" in their earlier stages. He said "the party is not over" for PFI hospital building. But there was a new realism. Summary by Keep our NHS Public of  Financial Times 12 May 2006
    3     Hundreds of hospital job sacrificed to cut costs. Hundreds of jobs are being axed at the Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust - the biggest trust in the country - in a desperate effort to save £25m. A total of 435 posts will go in the coming year in a massive cost cutting plan aimed at bringing savings of £84m over three years. No compulsory redundancies are expected to be made "at this stage". Unions blamed the government for the cuts. Managers are understood to be furious that last-minute changes by the Department of Health meant the scale of savings demanded unexpectedly doubled. A total of 65 management posts will go to save £3m but the bulk of the job cuts will affect clinical staff. Among a series of measures, beds will be axed, patient stays in hospital reduced and car parking charges substantially increased. Bobbie Chadwick, of the RCN, said: "This is not about mismanagement or staff not working hard enough, it's purely a government target. The government is to blame for this. They haven't shifted the goalposts, they've moved the turf." Summary by Keep our NHS Public of  Yorkshire Post 12 May 2006
    3     Health staff join protests over curbs on spending. The cuts at Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust come after the most financially successful 12 months in its six-year history - it broke even without any outside help for the first time. Other NHS hospitals in Yorkshire that have already announced millions of pounds of cuts include Sheffield, Rotherham, Barnsley, Hull, York, Harrogate and Airedale. Summary by Keep our NHS Public of  Yorkshire Post 12 May 2006
    3     Hospital trust 'spending to save'. An NHS trust which is axing hundreds of jobs in a bid to save £25m is spending £100,000 a month on advisers telling it how to save the cash. 430 posts will be cut at Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust as part of a cost-cutting plan aimed at saving £84m in the next three years. The trust is paying PriceWaterhouseCoopers to advise on savings. Summary by Keep our NHS Public of  BBC Online 16 May 2006
          Blair's market madness wrecking the NHS. The Socialist says: "The deprived areas of Langwith, Creswell and Normanton in Derby are guinea pigs in Labour's plan to privatise primary health care… [UnitedHealth Europe] has little interest in Langwith and probably won't make much money there. For them the big prize is a head start in bidding for control of the budgets that pay for hospital treatments… 130 angry people were at the Keep Our NHS Public meeting in Langwith where speaker John Lister welcomed health campaigner and Socialist Party member Jackie Grunsell's victory in the Huddersfield council election. Along with victories for health campaigners in Kidderminster, he said: 'When people get a choice they're voting strongly for candidates that support the NHS.' In a passionate defence of the NHS founding principles, that treatment should be available to all no matter where they lived or how much money they had, local GP Dr. Elizabeth Barrett, said, 'To dismember the NHS limb by limb is an act of social vandalism.'" Summary by Keep our NHS Public of  Socialist 18 May 2006
    3     Hopes dashed. A leaked report has revealed the first private management take-over of an NHS hospital left the trust in dire financial straits, threatening the local health economy. The draft Audit Commission report on the deal between Good Hope Hospital NHS Trust and Secta Group Ltd describes a costly shambles. While the key clinical targets were met under the franchise, more than £1m was spent on "interventions". These were deemed an unacceptable use of public monies. The franchise agreement under which Secta ran Good Hope lasted from 2003 until it was terminated at the end of 2005. Inadequate provision within the contract meant the trust itself could not terminate the contract early or enforce penalty clauses. The deal ended prematurely after Anne Heast, the Secta employee appointed to the chief executive role, left for another position within Secta's parent company Tribal Group. Before she left, a paper was presented to the trust board assessing her performance - authored by Anne Heast. Former health secretary Frank Dobson, who has backed the Keep Our NHS Public campaign, said: "This report yet again exposes the myth that the private sector has management geniuses who can sort out the NHS -there isn't a single example of them doing it." Meanwhile, trusts across the country are using management consultants to help rid them of their deficits. Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust is reportedly paying PwC £100,000 a month, while Surrey and Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust has paid KPMG almost £700,000 to date. Cheshire West and Ellesmere Port and Neston PCTs are paying KPMG £10,000 per day, according to the Chester Chronicle. Summary by Keep our NHS Public of  Hospital Doctor 18 May 2006
  2       GPs quit LIFT move in fear of 'horrific bills'. The fear of "horrific bills" has led GPs at the Oakley Terrace practice in Leeds to cut ties with the £4.6 million Parkside LIFT development. A GP at another LIFT practice in the city confirmed that costs were excessively high. Dr Carole Lee, a GP at the Woodhouse Health Centre, said there were "hidden costs within the building". Summary by Keep our NHS Public of  Pulse 2 June 2006
          180 NHS staff face job cuts. Staff at the Prescription Pricing Division in Wakefield could lose their jobs as early as January as the number of branches is reduced from seven to ten. The closure is part of privatisation plans and a restructuring around a new computer system designed to handle the bulk of work. Summary by Keep our NHS Public of  Yorkshire Evening Post 5 June 2006
          Help health workers stop the sell off of NHS Logistics. NHS Logistics has been targeted for privatisation by the New Labour government under the guise of an "arms length body". But Unison's Maidstone branch, along with four other small Unison branches, in Alfreton, Normanton, Runcorn and Bury St Edmunds, are fighting the plans and are consulting their members for strike action. A recent consultative ballot saw 92% vote in favour. Over 2,000 people have signed a petition against the sell off, and now first rally in Maidstone for over ten years has been organised, under the banner of the national organisation Keep Our NHS Public. The rally is set to take place on Saturday 1 July, in Maidstone's Brenchley Gardens next to Maidstone East railway station. The rally will be joined by those fighting over 300 jobs losses in the Maidstone Hospital Trust and 160 at Medway. Summary by Keep our NHS Public of  Socialist Worker 7 June 2006
          ISTC chaos ignored. The Government is ignoring local concerns over the national ISTC programme as evidence emerges of more schemes being scrapped or put on hold. At least eight of 24 schemes in the £2.5bn wave two ISTC procurement have now been dropped and another put on hold after commissioners said they were not needed. But the DoH is not only insisting that Norfolk, Suffolk and Cambridge SHA spends £38m on a elective surgical ISTC, it has also rejected its proposals for case-mix of patients treated there. A recent report by Cambridge City and South Cambridgeshire PCTs said the DoH had "modelled that we need this capacity" without factoring new NHS capacity into the model. It said "there will be high risk to local providers because the aim is for the [ISTC] to fill up first". The PCTs are also under pressure to buy more scans under the national diagnostics procurement. Most of the commissioned scans would substitute for work done in the NHS rather than supplement it, the report says. Essex SHA has been ordered to spend £45m on independent sector schemes, despite the collapse of two ISTC projects in 2005. A paper presented to Colchester PCT's board in January said the SHA had "identified a number of concerns" with this but the scheme was going ahead anyway. A surgical scheme for Leicestershire, Northamptonshire and Rutland SHA has been halted. The SHA said that a PFI project to upgrade three hospitals and an ISTC could lead to over-capacity. The SHA is negotiating to leave the national private diagnostics procurement. The DoH has allowed the scrapping of a surgical ISTC in York, which already has a surgical treatment centre, at Clifton Park. Birmingham City Hospital's ISTC had been dropped and it has been reported elsewhere that a further six schemes have been abandoned. These are: County Durham & Tees Valley, South Yorkshire (both cardiology and general surgery), South West Peninsula, and West Yorkshire (both plastics and multi-specialty centres). Dr Paul Miller, chairman of the BMA's seniors' committee, said: "There's clear evidence that wave one schemes are surplus to requirements - spare capacity is being hawked around like soft fruit at the end of market day. Rather than imposing wave two schemes where they are not wanted the DoH should stop now. It should not sign another contract before it has reviewed the whole policy." Summary by Keep our NHS Public of  Hospital Doctor 8 June 2006
          GPs fight off APMS threat. GPs are grouping together and launching their own limited companies in a desperate rearguard action against private providers. Dozens of GPs plan to target emergent APMS contracts and collectively compete against the multi-nationals. In Leeds, 70 GPs across 19 practices have formed LeeDrs. Some 50 GPs in Staffordshire have banded together to form a company with similar intentions. Dr Prasad Rao, chair of GP Services for Staffordshire and a GP in Stoke-on-Trent, said: "I see competitors like United Healthcare Europe and Mercury Healthcare as being outsiders. We will not compete against local GPs." Summary by Keep our NHS Public of  Pulse 9 June 2006
    3     Thousand jobs to go at NHS trust. Up to 1,100 posts are to be lost at a hospital trust as it attempts to cut its pay bill by £18m. The Mid Yorkshire Hospitals NHS trust, which covers Dewsbury and Wakefield, estimates it will be able to lose the positions over the next five years. Trust turnaround director Toby Lewis said: "We do need to reduce our pay bill by £18m over the next two years. We anticipate being able to achieve this without the need to make large-scale redundancies. However, we have been open that we cannot rule out redundancies at this stage." Summary by Keep our NHS Public of  BBC Online 12 June 2006
    3     Health trust to axe jobs. Over 1,000 jobs are to be lost as Mid Yorkshire Hospitals NHS trust attempts to reduce its pay bill. The Trust spends £210m a year on pay, 70% of its budget. While redundancies could not be ruled out, the trust stated it hopes to avoid them. Summary by Keep our NHS Public of  Yorkshire Post 13 June 2006
          To those that have shall be given. New research into GP referral rates in primary care trusts in England yields startling results: referrals seem to decline steadily as deprivation and need increase. The analysis has been conducted by data analysts Dr Foster Intelligence. The Airedale PCT in West Yorkshire, for instance, had one of the lowest rates, with referrals 42% below the norm. At the other end of the scale, Barnet's practices in suburban north London had a referral rate 52% above average. All three Bradford trusts, next to Airedale, had referral rates 30%-35% below average, as did Blackburn with Darwen PCT in Lancashire. By contrast, Richmond and Twickenham in south London, Huntingdonshire in Cambridgeshire, North East Oxfordshire and South West Oxfordshire referred at more than double those rates. Summary by Keep our NHS Public of  Guardian 14 June 2006
    3     Demand management 'not a panacea'. Dr Barbara Hakin, who becomes chief executive of East Midlands strategic health authority next week, has spoken of her worries about NHS reforms. Asked about the role of demand management, the former NHS acting director of commissioning said: "I'm hugely experienced in commissioning and in changing the clinical pathway. And that experience does give me some cynicism. This is not the absolute panacea for the ills of the NHS. By doing these things you can find unmet need, you can change the way you do things just because you can - and not necessarily find it's cheaper and better. I'm really nervous about how much is being pinned on managing demand." On practice-based commissioning, she said: "One thing that concerns me about lifting the lid on practice-based commissioning is that GPs are not corporate creatures, and there are dangers about changes being made to the way services are being delivered which are not properly assured, and without proper scrutiny of value for money or patient safety." She said that looking back to her "early days" leading Bradford South and West PCT, she could think of "instances where some invasive treatments might have been carried out in primary care, when the patient safety aspects may not be properly scrutinised." Summary by Keep our NHS Public of Health Service Journal 29 June 2006
          NHS local care savings 'doubted'. Doubts are being cast on the push to move care out of hospitals and into the community, after research showed there was little difference in cost. A team from Bradford's St Luke's Hospital looked at the rehabilitation of 220 elderly patients after illness. They found the cost and quality of life score after treatment was similar for acute and community hospitals. Ministers have said one of the reasons for shifting care is to save money. The average cost of the treatment in community hospitals was £7,233, compared to £7,351 for the district general hospital. The cost of treatment per day was actually £2 cheaper in the district general hospital, but over the course of treatment the cost worked out slightly more expensive as the average length of care was 23 days - one day more than for community hospitals. Summary by Keep our NHS Public of BBC Online 21 July 2006
    3     More cuts in NHS care follow alert over cash crisis. More cuts in NHS care are being made in Yorkshire following a warning to health chiefs that a worsening financial crisis threatens to undermine plans to improve services. Managers in Huddersfield and neighbouring communities announced cuts of £12m over two years which include ending some treatments and reducing spending on long-term patients with mental health problems and learning disabilities. The move follows a report by the District Auditor on the "poor and deteriorating" financial positions at two PCTs. The report found the South Huddersfield PCT had relied on one-off measures that had not resolved long-standing underlying problems. Huddersfield Central PCT had more recent problems made worse by delays in land sales. Both had failed to secure deals with hospitals that had treated more patients than the PCTs could afford. Between April and June £2m was saved by measures including savings on specialist treatment including reviewing funding arrangements of long-stay mental health and learning disability patients. Summary by Keep our NHS Public of Yorkshire Post 10 August 2006
          Choice of hospital exposed as a sham. Patients are being denied treatment at their chosen hospital to ensure Government waiting targets are not breached. A Pulse inquiry has uncovered numerous examples of PCTs deleting popular hospitals from the menu of choices available to GPs using Choose and Book to ensure no patient waits longer than 13 weeks. The move has left GPs increasingly unable to book slots at patients' preferred hospital, forcing people to travel long distances to less popular clinics even when they would prefer to wait longer. The clinician in charge of Choose and Book has even revealed PCT chief executives could be at risk of the sack if they allowed patients to book slots past 13 weeks. Dr Mark Davies, clinical lead for Choose and Book at Connecting for Health, said the system allowed slots to be booked up to 180 days ahead - but commissioners had the power to take hospitals off menus if they could not offer a booking inside the 13-week target. He said: "It would be unusual for any chief executive that wants to remain in post to release slots that can be booked past 13 weeks." Areas and specialities where choice is being restricted include orthopaedics in Bristol and Exeter; ENT and cardiology in Cornwall; foot and ankle surgery in Leeds; ENT and orthopaedics in Liverpool and Swanage; and various specialities in Milton Keynes. Summary by Keep our NHS Public of Pulse 11 August 2006. [This seems to force patients to accept an offer involving long travelling even if they would prefer to wait slightly longer for the local hospital]

Reply from Leeds PCTs largely confirming the report.
    3     Cash-strapped hospitals need £50m repairs. Ageing Leeds hospitals need £50m worth of repairs - but the work may never get done. A report gives a detailed rundown of dozens of potential renovation projects ranging from security improvements to extra fire safety measures. But bosses at Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust admit they do not have the cash to fund the schemes. Summary by Keep our NHS Public of Yorkshire Evening Post 11 August 2006.
          One in five ambulance trusts systematically misreported response times, making it look as if they reached serious life-threatening emergencies within government targets, the Department of Health disclosed yesterday. An audit of 31 ambulance services in England found six did not follow official guidance about how response times should be recorded. Some did not start the clock as soon as a 999 call was received. Others did not synchronise the clocks on the emergency switchboard with those used by paramedics. In some cases, ambulance trusts recategorised the urgency of the call after the job was done to make it fit the response time achieved rather than the priority given when the original call was made. This would have allowed staff to downgrade an emergency if the ambulance arrived late. The department said the six trusts were West Yorkshire, South Yorkshire, Cumbria, West Midlands, Staffordshire and the West Country ambulance service. John Carvel, social affairs editor Tuesday August 15, 2006 The Guardian
    3     NHS 'scandal' of bonuses for bosses as ward staff face axe. Bureaucrats at a Yorkshire health authority have been awarded performance bonuses worth £260,000 as front-line NHS staff face redundancy in drastic cuts to save cash. Angry union chiefs and MPs condemned awards to all 90 staff at the former West Yorkshire Strategic Health Authority (SHA). The payouts come as 93 workers including nurses and midwives at four hospitals in the area were given 30 days' notice yesterday. Staff at the health authority were given a "team reward" set at 7.83% of annual pay for 2005-6, according to a leaked document. Top managers picked up as much as £9,000 from the bonus, which was made after the NHS in West Yorkshire met key performance standards. It has caused fury among other NHS staff at a time when the health service faces financial crisis. This has been further fuelled as none of the authority's staff worked on the front line and made no direct contribution to achieving targets on waiting times, access to GPs, cutting numbers of smokers or reducing levels of the superbug MRSA. Last night Adrian O'Malley, of the union Unison said: "It's scandalous NHS money is being squandered like this. The health authority is the one which is forcing trusts like ours to make these cuts. It's absolutely disgusting." Summary by Keep our NHS Public of Yorkshire Post 18 August 2006
          Ballots and lobbies in Pontefract. A 70-strong "Keep Our NHS Public" meeting in Pontefract unanimously supported the proposal to set up a broad-based campaign to defend local health services and fight NHS privatisation. A march and rally in Pontefract is planned for 30 September and there will be lobbies against the local health Trust Board and against all four local New Labour MPs who kept silent while the Trust was making health workers' jobs redundant. The Royal College of Nursing together with UNISON have lodged a collective dispute against the Trust calling for a halt in the staffing review process. The Trust's Management made no concessions at a dispute hearing in August, so the joint trade union staff side unanimously decided to conduct a consultative ballot for industrial action. Summary by Keep our NHS Public of Socialist 31 August 2006
  2       Hospital projects to receive Autumn announcement. 11 NHS hospital projects, which are currently under review, will receive a decision in the autumn. They are: Hillingdon Hospital redevelopment - £271m; Leeds Maternity and Childrens Hospital scheme - £204m; North Bristol and South Gloucestershire scheme - £310m; North Mersey Future Healthcare Project - £1bn; Northwick Park and St Marks redevelopment - £305m; Papworth Hospital NHS Trust redevelopment - £148m; Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital Stanmore scheme - £121m; Sandwell and West Birmingham Acute Trust - £591m; Southend Hospital redevelopment - £100m; Taunton Surgical Centre - £75m; Watford and Hatfield Hospitals redevelopment - £880m. Summary by Keep our NHS Public of PFI.net 31 August 2006
          Chiefs scrap 264 ops at last minute. 264 people due to have operations between April and July this year have had them cancelled at the last minute by Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust. In addition, 244 who were due to have operations at Mid Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Trusts also had their operations cancelled at the last minute. In both cases significant proportions, sixty three in Leeds and 40 in mid-Yorkshire, waited more than the 28 day government target for re-scheduling. Summary by Keep our NHS Public of Yorkshire Evening Post 2 September 2006
          Anger as Leeds hospital jobs go to India. Medical secretaries at Leeds hospitals are being axed and their work sent to India. Around 60 specialist posts will go as the typing of treatment notes and letters is outsourced in a move saving up to £1m a year. Hospital bosses in Leeds are grappling with debts of £84m. The plans have been fiercely criticised by union leaders and MPs who fear lives could be put at risk. Dave Prentis, general secretary of Unison, said serious mistakes had been uncovered at hospitals which had already tried sending work abroad. Mr Prentis said: "Patients' medical records must be absolutely up to date and accurate. The consequences of typing errors are too frightening to contemplate." Leeds East MP George Mudie said: "I am very worried about the security of sending patient information overseas especially as we know that hackers can get into anything on the internet. Also medical secretaries are highly trained in their areas. If there are any queries, they are usually in the same building as the doctor to be able to check. That can't and won't happen if the person typing is in India or anywhere else." Medical secretaries at St James's and Leeds General hospitals earn around £20,000 a year. Workers in India can earn as little as 44p an hour. Medical secretary vacancies across Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust have been frozen in advance of the project and the trust is advertising for a private firm to co-ordinate it. Summary by Keep our NHS Public of Yorkshire Evening Post 7 September 2006
          Ward crisis could put lives at risk. Midwives at Leeds hospitals have warned low staffing levels could put lives at risk. They have hit out at hospital bosses, some of them saying the situation is at "crisis point". Union leaders said an NHS jobs freeze in Leeds was not helping problems, and it could take a further two to three years to solve the staffing crisis. One Leeds midwife, who did not wish to be named, said wards were in utter chaos. The midwife says patients are often left with no offer of assistance or support. She said: "Staffing has recently been reviewed by management, who have cut numbers to the smallest number possible. The postnatal ward is a ward for 24 mums and 24 babies. It was known to management that there would be only two midwives and one health care assistant for three days that week. There were poorly babies on the ward needing intravenous medications, poorly mums needing intravenous medications and mums who had just had major surgery for caesarian sections." The trust is planning to shed around 450 jobs as it tries to save £84m over the next three years. Summary by Keep our NHS Public of Yorkshire Evening Post 21 September 2006
        5 NHS demos 'mirror poll tax action'. An "extraordinary" level of protests against cuts in NHS services is building up across the UK and now threatens to rival the rebellion against the hated poll tax, the Government has been warned. Members of the public have been turning out in their thousands in recent weeks to demonstrate against closures or cutbacks across the country, including Nottingham, Cambridge, Manchester, Sheffield, Birmingham and Epsom. Marches and rallies have been held in Huntingdon, Huddersfield and Southampton while protests will be held later this month in areas including Oxford and Guildford. Unions and other organisers of the events have expressed amazement at the number of people joining in. Geoff Martin, head of campaigns at pressure group Health Emergency said: "An extraordinary grass roots movement against government policy on hospital closures and privatisation is putting thousands of people on the streets every weekend in villages, town and cities the length and breadth of the country. There's been nothing like this since the spontaneous rebellion against the poll tax in the early 90's. The Government are right to be worried. The full scale of their closure programme, which will involve up to 60 major acute hospitals, has yet to hit home and when it does the scale of the protest will ratchet up several notches. This growing NHS protest could well do for New Labour what the poll tax did for Margaret Thatcher and the Tories." Karen Jennings, head of health at Unison said: "Local people are joining these protests in their droves because they care about their local hospital. It shows that people are not interested in choice or privatisation. What they want is a good local hospital they can use they are sick. This is a mass movement of people demonstrating that they want their hospitals to stay open." Summary by Keep our NHS Public of Guardian 7 October 2006
        5 Protesters on march as anger at NHS cuts grows. Protesters against plans to move consultant maternity services out of Huddersfield Royal Infirmary marched through the town on Saturday. The plans, approved last week by Patricia Hewitt, will force some expectant mothers to travel to Calderdale Royal Hospital in Halifax. Jackie Grunsell, a local doctor who fought the move said campaigners were planning to link up with other groups nationally to display the level of ill-feeling over the cuts. Recent marches around the country have brought thousands onto the streets over NHS cutbacks, with unions displaying their amazement at the turnouts. Geoff Martin, head of campaigns at pressure group Health Emergency, said: "There's been nothing like this since the spontaneous rebellion against the poll-tax." Karen Jennings, head of health for Unison, claimed the protests show that "people are not interested in choice or privatisation. What they want is a god local hospital they can use if they are sick." Summary by Keep our NHS Public of Yorkshire Post 9 October 2006
        5 Protesters march for baby service. Thousands of protesters marched in Huddersfield over a decision to switch the town's maternity services to a hospital in Halifax. Plans to move consultant-led maternity services to Calderdale Royal Hospital sparked controversy earlier this year. A petition against the decision, by the Calderdale and Huddersfield NHS Trust, was signed by more than 40,000 people and led to an appeal. But Health Secretary Patricia Hewitt has ruled the plan can go ahead. GP Jackie Grunsell founded the Save Huddersfield NHS campaign. She said protesters would continue their fight to keep maternity services in Huddersfield despite the health secretary's decision. Saturday's protest saw campaigners march from St Luke's Hospital in Crosland Moor to Huddersfield town centre. Summary by Keep our NHS Public of BBC Online 9 October 2006
        5 NHS rallies 'echo poll tax anger'. A rising number of protests against cuts in the NHS is threatening to rival the 1990s rebellion against the Tories' poll tax, campaigners have said. The protests have attracted both health professionals and members of the public affected by potential changes. The Keep Worthing and Southlands Hospitals campaign will gather at the site on Sunday afternoon. On Saturday, more than 1,000 people took part in a protest in Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire, where Hinchingbrooke Hospital is vulnerable to closure because of a £24m debt. A Huddersfield protest related to a decision to switch the town's maternity services to a hospital in Halifax. In recent weeks demonstrators have also turned out in Southampton, Nottingham, Cambridge, Redditch, Manchester, Sheffield, Birmingham and Epsom. "An extraordinary grass roots movement against government policy on hospital closures and privatisation is putting thousands of people on the streets every weekend in villages, town and cities the length and breadth of the country," said Geoff Martin, head of campaigns at pressure group Health Emergency. Labour leadership contender John McDonnell MP has said the government risked losing dozens of seats at the next general election in areas affected by NHS cuts. Summary by Keep our NHS Public of BBC Online 9 October 2006
    3     Yorks hospital trust deep in the red. NHS debts totalled £547million at the end of the 2005/ 06 financial year, up £35m on earlier estimates by trusts, with Mid Yorkshire NHS Trust running one of the largest deficits at £14.7m. Summary by Keep our NHS Public of Yorkshire Evening Post 10 October 2006
        5 Hewitt backs maternity plans. Health secretary Patricia Hewitt has quashed the objections of an overview and scrutiny committee and upheld local NHS proposals on maternity services on the advice of the independent reconfiguration panel. Hewitt asked the panel to advise her on the proposals for Calderdale and Huddersfield after they were referred to her by a joint committee of local councillors. The IRP was set up in 2003 to provide advice to the health secretary on contested proposals for health service change in England. This was only the second referral, the first being in 2003 about changes proposed in East Kent.  Summary by Keep our NHS Public of Health Service Journal 12 October 2006
    3     UK's largest hospital trust faces big cuts.  Equivalent of 1,000 jobs to go to eliminate deficit.  'Payment by results' drives budget into red. Britain's biggest NHS hospital trust is poised to announce plans for sweeping job cuts and the closure of key services in an attempt to reduce spending by nearly £50m over the next two years, the Guardian has learned. Unions representing staff at Leeds Teaching Hospitals are expected to be told on Monday that the savings needed are equivalent to the loss of 1,000 jobs, but the trust hopes to protect staff by finding other ways to economise.  John Carvel, social affairs editor Saturday December 2, 2006 The Guardian
        5 'Closures are not about saving money, but saving lives'. The closure of accident and emergency services at some hospitals is in the interests of patients, the Government has said. If that were true, Andrew Lansley retorted, it could have been done before, not after, financial deficits in the NHS had come to light. The Government fears that it is losing the argument over NHS reconfigurations, which involve A& E and maternity services, among others. The reports, published yesterday, are designed to present the issue more positively, by showing that change might not mean worse care. But the argument assumes that the money saved by closing some A& Es is devoted to building others into specialised centres. That is not guaranteed. Geoff Martin, of the campaign group Health Emergency, said: "Claiming that closing local A& E departments, trauma units and intensive-care facilities will improve services turns all logic on its head. People are fighting these closures in their tens of thousands up and down the country because they know that closing local services and increasing journey times puts lives at risk." The Government has not produced a list of trusts where A& E departments have closed or are threatened. But the Tories say they have identified hospitals in 29 NHS trusts: Ashford and St Peter's Hospitals; Barking, Havering and Redbridge; Barnet and Chase Farm Hospitals; Buckinghamshire Hospitals; Calderdale and Huddersfield; East and North Hertfordshire; East Sussex Hospitals; Epsom and St Helier University Hospitals; North Bristol; George Eliot Hospital; Good Hope Hospital, Sutton Coldfield; Hinchingbrooke Health Care; North West London Hospitals; Oxford Radcliffe Hospitals; Pennine Acute Hospitals; Princess Royal Hospital, Haywards Heath; Queen Mary's Sidcup; Royal Free Hampstead; Royal Surrey Hospital, Guildford; Royal West Sussex; Sandwell and West Birmingham Hospitals; South Tees Hospitals; South Warwickshire General Hospitals; United Lincolnshire Hospitals; West Hertfordshire Hospitals; Whipps Cross University Hospital; Whittington Hospital; Worthing and Southlands Hospitals.  Summary by Keep our NHS Public of Times 6 December 2006
  2 3     The £1.2m bill...for cutting NHS costs. A debt-ridden hospital trust has spent £1.2m on a major cost cutting review which has seen hundreds of front-line healthcare jobs axed. Health unions have branded the spending spree on a Turnaround Programme at the Mid Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Trust as 'bureaucratic madness.' The trust, which is £14m in the red and has a zero rating in NHS league tables, has this year slashed around 450 healthcare jobs at Wakefield, Pontefract and Dewsbury hospitals in a bid to slash £18m off its wages bill. Adrian O'Malley, Unison representative at Pinderfields Hospital, said the £1m plus turnaround spend figure just revealed by the Department of Health was "a scandalous waste of public money." In September the trust was advertising for two managers on salaries of up to £80,000 a year to see through the cost cutting review. They were seeking a deputy turnaround director on around £73k a year and an £80k director of corporate development at the same time as 93 staff, mostly managers, faced losing their jobs. Unison representative Mick Griffiths said staff are bearing the brunt of changes as the trust bids to get finances in order in readiness for a controversial £250m Private Finance Initiative project to build new hospitals in Wakefield and Pontefract. Summary by Keep our NHS Public of Yorkshire Evening Post 15 December 2006
          Business primed to expand GP role. BBC News has learnt that the government will soon extend proposals to get businesses to run GP surgeries in areas which have struggled to recruit doctors. An initial scheme has had only limited success - but ministers are planning a wave of advertisements next year in an effort to attract big companies and smaller organisations to fill gaps in 30 parts of England which are short of family doctors. The government says the scheme will help tackle health inequalities and strike a good deal for the NHS - but some campaigners disagree. Campaigners in the quiet Liverpool suburb of Maghull are fighting a low-budget but determined battle against plans for a new GP surgery in the area, which would be run by a company. Some local people are suspicious about the move - including Peter Crowder, a retired psychiatric nurse and chairman of the campaign group. "We want the opportunity to have a fair say. From our point of view, that means stopping the negotiations that are going on with a particular private company and going back to the public. Give us our voice and let us have our say." GPs have in effect always been independent operators - but Peter Crowder says that's very different to companies who may be answerable to shareholders. He said: "We accept our GPs as part and parcel of our local area so they're more than just a faceless entity. They have an investment in this area and they re-invest in this area." Leigh Griffin, who runs Sefton Primary Care Trust, said: "What's happened is that from an open tendering process, the Department of Health has identified a preferred provider and almost married us up with them, and we are talking to them." He would not confirm if that provider is Care UK. When challenged that not being able to confirm who the PCT was dealing with at this stage was bound to fuel a feeling of discontent among the local campaigners, Griffin said: "I've got a lot of sympathy with those concerns." The Merseyside scheme is part of a wider programme launched by the government last year, to boost coverage in areas short of doctors. It's led to two new surgeries in north and east London signing up fifteen hundred patients. But the programme has run into problems in other areas. In Plymouth and in Accrington, NHS managers decided none of the bids to run a new service was affordable. And in Bradford, an NHS board decided recently it was ending its participation in the scheme - again because the bidders' proposals cost too much. But the government says it is determined that the gaps in these and other areas will be filled, and so new advertisements will be placed for 30 areas next year. A Department of Health spokesman said: "The schemes will be advertised in tranches with advertisements placed in the local and national media. Taking forward the programme in a series of local procurements should help ensure a level playing field for big companies, smaller organisations and social enterprises. PCTs in under-doctored areas deciding not to take part in the national programme will be expected to take forward their own local procurements." And with ministers demanding that other GP surgeries, not just those in under-served areas, open up to different providers, we can expect to see more of these schemes in the future. Summary by Keep our NHS Public of BBC Online 20 December 2006
          Hospital pays £18,000 for baby's death. A mother whose baby died 20 minutes after her delivery because of a shortage of beds in a maternity unit has been awarded £18,000 in compensation. Because of administrative failings, Janine Howarth, 35, had to wait almost three days in an ante-natal ward before being induced. A coroner ruled that, on the balance of probabilities, Caitlin died because of the delay that resulted from a shortage of beds. New measures have been introduced at the hospital to prevent a similar incident, including the appointment of 10 additional midwives and specialist midwifery support workers. The Royal College of Midwives believes that the Government's pledge that all midwives should provide one-to-one care by 2009 would mean recruiting a further 10,000 staff. At the same time, newly-qualified midwifery students have reported being unable to find hospitals to take them on in England despite staffing shortfalls. The RCM is calling for a system already operating in Scottish hospitals to be introduced to guarantee students 18 hours work a week. Summary by Keep our NHS Public of Telegraph 21 December 2006 [Leeds General Infirmary]
    3     NHS facing more pain after dental fees blunder. Cash-stricken NHS trusts in Yorkshire face another blow amid fears a Government blunder in calculating controversial dental charges will leave a multi-million black hole in budgets. found health chiefs in the region are predicting losses of up to £11m in revenue from new dental charges introduced in April. If the same pattern were to be repeated nationwide it could leave the NHS facing a dental charge deficit of more than £100m in 2006-07 - on top of an escalating crisis in health service finances which is already leading to swingeing cuts in care. The miscalculation would be the latest by the Department of Health over new contract. The biggest predicted deficit is in the Bradford district where health chiefs estimate they will be £2.4m below target by March. Sheffield Primary Care Trust (PCT) could run up losses of £2m - nearly 25 per cent of total revenue. Only health chiefs in North Yorkshire and Calderdale are confident they will recover the full total but most are predicting they will be 10-30 per cent short. The losses are exacerbating the NHS financial crisis. In latest estimates, NHS trusts in Yorkshire are predicting they will plunge £129m into the red by the end of March. Summary by Keep our NHS Public of Yorkshire Post 27 December 2006
          New nurses face the scrapheap. Newly-qualified nurses trained in Leeds are unable to find jobs because of NHS spending cuts. Midwives are also struggling to get work after years of study as hospital trusts all over the country tighten their belts. Earlier this year more than 100 graduate nurses were taken on by Leeds Teaching Hospitals Trust, which runs LGI and St James's. But now the trust is grappling with a projected £11m deficit and has put a complete freeze on recruitment. Bobbie Chadwick, Leeds Royal College of Nursing representative, said the next wave of nursing graduates in Leeds were due to finish in January. "There are no jobs generally across the country," she said. "It's tragic. I feel terrible for them." She said she did not blame the Leeds hospitals trust because they were unable to recruit externally. But she added she especially feared for mature students and single parents who had struggled to train and now were without jobs. Jude Langley, a second year midwifery student at the University of Leeds, said of 25 fellow students who graduated last year, only four had jobs, two of those abroad. Summary by Keep our NHS Public of Yorkshire Evening Post 5 January 2007
          Fewer hospital beds 'will make the NHS better'. Bed-blocking is costing the NHS almost £1 billion-a-year, a new report claims. Some 13,000 beds are wasted every year because patients are kept in hospital for longer than necessary, says the study by the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR). Richard Brooks, an associate director at IPPR, said: "A better NHS will be one with fewer hospital beds overall. At the moment there is a high-intensity debate on proposed changes to hospitals but people should be aware that it is not always the best idea to keep everything as it is. Not all of these beds are necessary." But Geoff Martin, the director of campaigns for Health Emergency, a pressure group that has co-ordinated protests against proposed cuts to hospital services, described the report as "patronising nonsense". He said: "This is an attempt to construct an intellectual argument for a government policy that is about cuts and saving money. I don't think anybody will believe it, apart from IPPR, Patricia Hewitt [the Health Secretary] and some of the officials at the Department of Health. I haven't seen people on the streets of Worthing, Guildford, Huddersfield, Rochdale and Airdrie campaigning in support of closing hospital beds." Summary by Keep our NHS Public of Telegraph 7 January 2007
    3     Leeds health services face financial crisis. Health services across Leeds are facing a major financial crisis. The city's hospitals are trying desperately to cut spending and on the streets ambulances across West Yorkshire have driven into their own cash crisis. Yorkshire Ambulance Service NHS Trust is projecting a £5m debt by the end of March. The West Yorkshire region of the trust already has the worst response times in the region, according to a report to Yorkshire Ambulance Service's board meeting, and needs to make savings. Cost-cutting at Yorkshire Ambulance Service NHS Trust has shrunk their projected deficit from £6.5m two months ago to £5m now. Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, which runs Leeds General Infirmary and St James's, has put in place cost-cutting measures to get its predicted deficit at the end of the financial year down to £11m. The trust has also started an action plan to cut that even further with a freeze on recruiting external staff and strict controls on using bank and agency nurses. Other cutbacks have included the closure of 12 neurosurgery beds out of 48 at LGI and the planned closure of a ward for the elderly at Wharfedale Hospital in Otley. Debt problems have also surfaced for Leeds Primary Care Trust (PCT). A spokesman said there was a risk of not breaking even by April unless cash was saved. Summary by Keep our NHS Public of Yorkshire Evening Post 26 January 2007
      4   NHS cash crisis deprives thousands of treatment for blindness. A legal campaign, spearheaded by former Labour MP Alice Mahon, is to challenge regional inequalities in the NHS that mean thousands face going blind for lack of treatment. The condition concerned is age-related macular degeneration (AMD) which affects 500,000 people in the UK. Mrs Mahon suffers from the "wet" form, of which there are 27,000 new cases a year in the UK. Two treatments, Lucentis and Mucagen are under consideration by the National Institute for Clinical Excellence (Nice) but, while some primary care trusts are using the treatment, others such as Mrs Mahon's are refusing to fund it. Campaigners say that 50 people a day go blind because of the refusal to fund the treatment. Mrs Mahon said: "I have been an ardent supporter of the NHS all my life and now feel totally let down. The excuses that PCTs are giving for not funding treatment are scandalously lame. Everyone has a right to free treatment on the NHS for a condition that results in blindness and devastates lives. Supporting people who are blind or partially sighted, who may need home help and suffer injuries from falls, is far more expensive than the treatment. The Chancellor must ensure the NHS budget is large enough to fund such a basic health care need." She was joined yesterday by MPs in tabling an early day motion to provide funding for the treatment. Even if both drugs are approved by Nice there is no guarantee that they will be provided with large discrepancies in what trusts will fund across the country, a situation which is likely to get worse as trusts struggle with their budgets. The Department of Health said last night that patients should not be refused a treatment simply because Nice guidance does not exist yet. Summary by Keep our NHS Public of Independent 30 January 2007
      4   Primary care trust backs down on decision not to fund eye medication. Public and political pressure yesterday forced an NHS trust to review its decision not to fund the purchase of a sight-saving drug for a former Labour MP. Kirklees and Calderdale primary care trust responded to a challenge by Alice Mahon, highlighting NHS inequalities that deny treatment to thousands facing blindness, including herself. The PCT said news that the drug had received its European licence meant it would reconsider. Summary by Keep our NHS Public of Independent 31 January 2007
        5 Maternity crisis: ministers who won't toe line. At least a dozen members of the Government are fighting NHS closures of maternity units, A& E departments, wards and cottage hospitals in or near their constituencies. Among the most prominent are Hazel Blears (Salford), the party chairman and a former health minister, and Ivan Lewis (Bury South), a junior health minister in charge of maternity services. He opposes the closure of the maternity unit at Fairfield Hospital, Bury, and was absent yesterday at the launch of the report on the future of maternity services in England, written by the maternity and child tsar, Dr Sheila Shribman. She had to strive alone to answer questions from journalists on the closures. Miss Blears has been on the picket line protesting over the closure of maternity services at the Hope Hospital, and Jacqui Smith (Redditch), the chief whip, has campaigned against the closure of maternity services at the Alexandra Hospital in the town. Two parliamentary private secretaries (PPS) have also been involved in protests. Kitty Ussher (Burnley), a former special adviser to Patricia Hewitt, the Health Secretary, led a campaign last year to save her local A& E department. Mary Creagh (Wakefield), the PPS to Andy Burnham, another health minister, has campaigned vigorously against the loss of maternity services at Huddersfield Royal Infirmary. Mike O'Brien (Warwickshire North), the solicitor general, has challenged proposals to close a special-care baby unit at George Eliot Hospital in Nuneaton, and Derek Twigg (Halton), a defence minister, is concerned about ward closures at Halton Hospital, Runcorn. Joan Ryan (Enfield North), the immigration minister, backs the fight to for children's services at Chase Farm Hospital. James Plaskitt (Warwick & Leamington), the work and pensions minister, wants to save the full range of services at Warwick Hospital. Tessa Jowell (Dulwich & West Norwood), the Culture Secretary, and Harriet Harman (Camberwell & Peckham), the constitutional affairs minister, oppose the closure of a 24-hour emergency clinic at the Maudsley Hospital, south London. Summary by Keep our NHS Public of Telegraph 7 February 2007