The Welsh Liberal Democrat Health Spokesperson, Peter Black has called for more details after the Health Minister told an Assembly Committee that she is planning for a billion pounds worth of cuts from the health service over the next three years.
In a written report the Minister told the Health, Wellbeing and Local Government Committee that her planning assumptions for the next three financial years from 2011-12 will require NHS organisations to reduce their costs by 7% per annum, or 19.6% over this period. This equates to a reduction of £1.1bn on the current revenue budget over the next three years in addition to the current years target of £436m of savings.
Mr. Black said that he was shocked by the admission, especially as the Liberal Democrat- Conservative UK Government has announced that it will be protecting expenditure on health and increasing it in real terms each year. Wales will receive a Barnett consequential from such spending.
He said: “We have been arguing for some time that there are efficiencies that can be made within the health budget so as to redirect cash to front line services. We also accept that things are going to get particularly difficult over the next few years due to the necessary action that will have to be taken in Westminster to reduce the deficit inherited from Labour. However, I did not expect cuts in the health budget on this scale and am concerned at the impact they will have on patient care.
“The Liberal Democrats and Conservatives in Westminster have pledged to try to protect the health service as much as it can from the impact of the cuts. However, that determination does not seem to be reflected by the One Wales Government. We need more details about how these cuts will be achieved and what effect they will on patients.”
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Perhaps Ms Hart is finally to remove the surplus administrative posts which resulted from last year’s centralisation?