BMA calls for fund rise
A BMA Scotland report on the local service called for urgent action to put the NHS on a sustainable footing, warning that morale among staff was at ‘rock bottom’.
Secondary care matters: shaping the future of safe, sustainable hospital-based healthcare in Scotland set out a 20-point plan for ensuring hospitals can continue to provide comprehensive care. It said the government should aim to increase health spending to 10% of GDP – in 2017/18, this would have swelled the budget by £2.6bn.
It said a more supportive culture would include ending ‘mutually incompatible goals’, such as asking health boards to make ‘stringent’ efficiency savings while delivering unachievable targets.
BMA Scotland consultants committee chair Simon Barker said doing nothing meant ministers were choosing to reduce services, cutting staff numbers and the motivation of those who remained.
‘The care provided in our hospitals suffers from a chronic lack of coherent planning, substantial underfunding that forces impossible prioritisation decisions on frontline clinicians, and undeliverable targets that seem to be driven by arbitrary lengths of time, rather than quality of care,’ he said.
‘For our hospitals and the people who depend on them, this simply has to change. If it doesn’t, we can no longer expect hospitals to provide the kind of comprehensive care we have always relied on.’Related content
The value masterclass shares examples of organisations and systems that have pursued a value-driven approach and the results they have achieved.
This webinar series offers colleagues of ICS organisations the opportunity to discuss common priorities, challenges, and successes within their field.