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Financial crisis isn’t PCT’s fault
• I READ with interest your story about the disagreement between University College London Hospital and Camden’s Primary Care Trust (UCLH: ‘We’re owed a fortune’, Nov 16).
Camden residents shouldn’t blame the Primary Care Trust for the NHS’s financial problems. Like all London’s Primary Care Trusts, they have been put under enormous financial pressure this year.
Enquiries made by me reveal that £1.2 million was top sliced off the PCT budget in July this year, and a further £1.7 million shortfall in the PCT’s central budget allocation was notified in August.
In addition over £350,000 was removed from the crucial professional and educational training budget, again in July this year.
Your readers may well ask how our NHS trusts are expected to manage their finances effectively when the goal posts are being moved in this way.
I know that NHS managers and staff across Camden are working tirelessly to ensure that this financial squeeze does not damage patient care, but your readers need to be aware of the difficult financial situation in which they are all working.
CLLR DAVID ABRAHAMS
Chairman of Health Scrutiny Committee
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