Andy Burnham, Labour’s Shadow Health Secretary, will today publish details of a secret Tory plan to cut nurses immediately after the coming General Election.
The Shadow Health Secretary says the disclosure highlights the clear contrast between Labour’s fully-funded plan to put real money into the NHS – and the Tories’ false promises which have an expiry date of May 8 stamped on them.
Andy Burnham says:
“These plans show the NHS simply cannot take five more years of David Cameron. He is saying one thing in public but drawing up plans in secret to cut nurses. It is clear the Tory NHS promises have an expiry date of May 8th stamped on them.
“Hospitals are already at their limits and staff are working wonders, but this plan will push them over the edge. It proves David Cameron’s promises on the NHS can’t be trusted.
"Labour has set out a better plan to invest £2.5 billion extra each year - on top of Tory spending plans - paid for by a mansion tax on homes worth £2 million, to fund 20,000 more nurses and 8,000 more GPs.”
The Tories’ failing plan:
New figures unearthed from an official government document show planned reductions in the number of NHS nurses, including for people with learning disabilities and mental health problems, immediately after the General Election.
Health Education England’s (HEE) Workforce Plan for England 2015/16 reveals trusts are forecasting that they will be employing nearly 2,000 fewer nurses over the next four years - for reasons “mainly driven by affordability”.
The document shows that this follows a late pre-election scramble to hire more nurses in an attempt to reverse the deep nursing cuts during the Tory-led Government’s first three years in office. According to the Health Education England analysis, hospital trusts needed 4,000 more nurses this year just to meet NICE guidelines about keeping vacancy rates down to 5%.
Labour is also publishing new House of Commons Library analysis of the latest NHS Workforce Census showing that, even after this late scramble to hire more nurses before the election, the number of nurses per million population has fallen from 5,324 in September 2009 to 5,172 in September 2014.
A recent study by the RCN found that the NHS faces a severe staffing crisis – which, combined with rising demand, is risking patient safety – because of the Tory-led Government’s failure to invest in frontline staff.
Other recent surveys have found that more than half of nurses say their ward is dangerously understaffed and two thirds of nurses saying patients were missing out on care due to understaffing.
Labour’s better plan for 20,000 more nurses
Labour will tackle the NHS workforce crisis, with 20,000 more nurses, 8,000 more GPs, 5,000 more care workers, and 3,000 more midwives so the NHS has tome to care.
This will be a new generation workforce, helping to reshape services to meet the care needs of the 21st Century, and joining up services from home to hospital.
Labour will fund these extra nurses through our Time to Care Fund – raised from a mansion tax on properties over £2m, cracking down on tax avoidance and a new levy on tobacco firms.