Following the release of the latest King’s Fund Quarterly Monitoring report, which reveals growing evidence from Finance Directors of the scale and damaging impact of NHS budgetary constraint, HCSA – the only professional association and trade union dedicated solely to hospital doctors – has issued the following response:
HCSA Chief Executive Eddie Saville said: “These findings will deepen concern among hospital doctors that an end to nearly seven years of real-terms decline in NHS pay is being linked to extra efficiencies that are simply unachievable.
"Finance directors are the people tasked with making the sums add up at a local level, so it is revealing that a growing number report declining standards of care amid the efficiencies already being demanded to meet their targets.
“The authors also echo our fears that front-line workforces, despite doing their utmost to improve quality, are being set an 'unachievable task'.
“NHS staff, including senior grades who have had almost no input into decisions made about care at arm’s length, have now lost confidence in the direction and nature of travel.
“We feel therefore that it is now time for an independent inquiry into the immediate future of the NHS.”
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The Hospital Consultants & Specialists Association is a nationally recognised professional association and trade union which represents and advises all grades of hospital doctors in the UK, both in the NHS and Private Sectors. We are recognised by NHS Employers to take part in national negotiations on pay, terms and conditions for all grades of members.