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'EXPLAIN YOURSELF'
Royal Free chief to face Town Hall probe over job cuts
MANAGERS at the Royal Free Hospital in Hampstead are facing
a showdown with the Town Hall over plans to shut wards and axe
nearly 500 jobs.
Senior councillors from all parties are deeply concerned at
cost-cutting measures aimed at soothing the £30-million
deficit at the Pond Street hospital.
Several members are finding it hard to swallow assurances from
managers that services will not be affected by the dramatic
cutting back of staff.
The tension has caused disagreement over who is to blame for
the gaping hole in the hospital’s accounts with government
policy just as much under scrutiny as the financial choices
made by the Royal Free’s most senior figures.
Health campaigners are warning that the crisis has been caused
by the government’s attempts to reform the NHS. More than
500 protesters turned out for a Save Our NHS conference in Euston
on Saturday. (See page 4)
Human rights lawyer Richard Stein, a former Camden councillor,
said: “Ultimately the buck has to stop with the Secretary
of State.”
Holborn and St Pancras MP Frank Dobson, himself a former health
secretary, is amongst critics of the way the government has
handled hospitals. He warned that hospital chiefs across the
NHS were wasting money on public relations and performance managers,
instead of spending on frontline nursing staff.
Labour council leader Councillor Raj Chada said the Town Hall
is well placed to get to the bottom of the problem and has already
fired off a letter to hospital chiefs.
He said: “I have asked the Royal Free to appear before
the council. We will want to be assured that this doesn’t
affect the services to our residents.”
Chief executive Andrew Way is booked in for a special council
session on Tuesday night when he will be grilled on the hospital’s
position. He says the efficiency drive will actually help patients
by ensuring they are seen more promptly and sent home earlier.
But some councillors have already talked privately about calling
for Health Secretary Patricia Hewitt to carry out her own investigation
into the Royal Free if they don’t like what they hear on
Tuesday.
Mr Stein, a speaker at Saturday’s conference, said: “The
council has the power to scrutinise what the hospital is doing.
If necessary they can refer matters to the secretary of state.
What they should be looking at is where it has gone wrong for
hospitals, where money has gone and how the government said
it should be spent.”
Officially, Tuesday’s meeting is meant only for backbench
councillors sitting on the Overview and Scrutiny Commission,
a cross-party council watchdog that examines Town Hall policy.
But due to the level of interest in the hospital – one
of Europe’s best regarded teaching facilities – the
session will be opened up to all elected members across the
council.
In a rival action, Conservative councillors are insisting that
the issue should be transferred to a full council meeting with
a question and answer session likely to run into several hours.
Leader councillor Piers Wauchope said: “The Overview and
Scrutiny Commission has allowed for 30 minutes for this –
hardly enough time for all the questions that need to be asked.” |
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