WHEN Kenneth Clarke gave the go-ahead to the first wave of NHS Trusts it was claimed that they would provide value for money.
In the forefront of the mad scramble to opt out was Central Manchester Health Authority which was so enthusiastic about the Tory plans that it 'opted out' every single service it controlled. A few months later a balancesheet can be drawn.
In the first three months of its existence the Central Manchester Trust managed to lose an incredible £1.25 million - from a supposed position of financial stability in April of this vear.
Of course the managers responsible for this mess are still in their jobs - apart, of course, from those who have been promoted. It is the patients and staff of Central Manchester who are having to pay.
Measures taken to reducethe deficit include a ban on the use of Agency nurses or Bank nurses - leading to increased staff shortages on the wards. freeze on all posts, again exacerbating staff shortages.
Student nurses
Student nurses, who had only recently won the right to be treated as 'supernumerary' on wards were orice again to be classed as part of the available work-force. (The only excepCouncil to voluntary agencies tions were those nurses training under Project 2000, who haveto considered be 'supernumerary). Two entire intakes of Psychiatric students have been cancelled.
In addition 20 or so nurses who work in the Manchester Clinic have been made redundant. While the Manchester Clinic is the private patient wing of Manchester Royal Infirmary and should be closed down, the staff made redundant were all NHS employees.
the Department of Psychiatry Gaskell House was closed down and patients transferred. Management promised that if staff agreed to this closure they would not freeze posts. Immediately the closure was carried out they went back on their word.
The result of these cuts (which are only the tip of the The Ambulance workers' strike showed that mass popular support exists for the NHS iceberg) is that patients and staff are suffering. Services which previously provided very high levels of care can no longer do so.
No care at all Others, particularly community based services are sometimes unable to give any care at all and have established 'waiting lists'.
The cuts by the local council - both in its own provision of services and in its grants to the voluntary sector - mean there are people who are urgently in need of care who are literally receiving none, or are having to be cared for by already stressed relatives.
The financial crisis in Central Manchester is a direct result of the unleashing of 'market forces' on the NHS.
Whilst some of the £1.25 million deficit can be blamed on incompetence in drawing up budgets (forgetting to include ems of major expenditure, to ‹ample) part of the probler also stems from the loss of a major contract with Clwyd Health authority.
But fighting over such contracts - with inevitable winners and losers - is precisely what the Tories' health policies areall Central Manchester has so far managed to lose £1.25 mil lion even though they are currently cushioned from the full effects of 'market forces'.
After next April, when the market is given free rein, the present financial plight of Central Manchester will probably appear relatively atTracuve.