Dr

The reports today that the NHS must cut 10% of its workforce over the next 5 years in an attempt to save over £20bn are laughable.

The people who draw up these reports have no understanding of economics, of the government or of the NHS.  First, economically, the NHS is a system that cannot work, it is failing faster than ever before and must be fundamentally changed.

Second, even if the government were to accept and implement these proposals they would do so incompetently.  Third, the NHS would still want to meet other targets set by its political paymasters so, while reducing staff numbers on paper, it would then spend vast amounts of money employing consultants and agency staff to do the jobs of those that have been made redundant.

As I have been saying for a long time.  The NHS has to change, it is not viable in its current state.  All of the NHS estate must be removed from state ownership.  When this has happened the new owners of the hospitals can decided how many staff they will need to undertake the treatment caseload that the NHS has purchased from them.  After over sixty years of NHS failure, it is time that the government learned that central planning does not work.