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Health flagship in cuts crisis
Imperial plans to axe up to 130 teaching and support staff
by mid-December
IT was billed by former health minister Lord Darzi’s as the future of healthcare in this country – introduced for the first time at the Paddington hospital where he made his name as the country’s leading surgeon.
When St Mary’s Hospital merged with Imperial College in 2008 to become Imperial NHS Trust, the country’s first Academic Health Science Centre (AHSC), bosses boldly claimed the partnership would provide the “best healthcare in the world” and “create new opportunities for our staff to progress their careers”.
The idea was to draw on the “Harvard-style” model where top research scientists worked together with leading doctors in super hospitals. But fewer than six months on from the marriage of minds, cracks are appearing in the relationship. Imperial College, in South Kensington, has announced proposals to axe up to 130 teaching and support staff by December 13.
The cuts have been triggered by a decision from the Higher Education Funding Council of England, the government quango that sets funding to all universities, to slash Imperial’s annual research budget by £5million.
The chairman of the British Medical Council, Dr Hamish Meldrum, has written to Imperial warning about the cuts knock-on effect on services at St Mary’s.
Notes from a meeting between the BMA and hospital bosses in the Queen Mother Building reveal concerns that the academic staff threatened with redundancy at Imperial deliver “a huge amount of teaching” at St Mary’s.
The notes, seen by the West End Extra, add that St Mary’s is “unlikely” to take on any of the staff “because of their own difficult financial position” and that “training and service delivery” could be severely affected.
The hospital is applying to become an independently-run foundation trust but must first convince the government it is capable of managing its own finances.
While the AHSC was set up with the vision of universities and hospitals working “hand-in-hand”, the BMA notes suggest there has been a “lack of co-ordination between the college and the NHS trust” over major projects.
Imperial’s focus, the notes add, has so far been “prestige projects rather than the clinical academics needing support in the AHSC”.
The consultation with staff on the job cuts at Imperial has closed and Tuesday was the final date for staff to accept voluntary redundancy packages.
Lord Darzi joined Imperial College London in 1994, obtained his professorship in 1996 and becoming the chair of surgery and head of department in 1998. He holds the Paul Hamlyn Chair of Surgery at Imperial College.
In 2007, as part of his review of healthcare in London, Lord Darzi said: “London needs to explore the model of AHSCs being followed by other large cities if it wants to be at the cutting-edge of research and clinical excellence.
A new form of university and hospital partnership is needed to maintain the UK’s academic institutions at the forefront of the global marketplace where they compete for grants, recognition and staff.”
A spokesperson from Imperial College said: “Between July 1 and September 30 a consultation exercise took place within Imperial College London’s Faculty of Medicine, with the aim of safeguarding its internationally leading research and education activities, and addressing a significant projected deficit over the next five years. The college has now agreed a financially sustainable structure for the faculty within which outstanding staff can be supported and nurtured.
“Throughout the consultation process meetings were held with Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust and the college’s other partner trusts to ensure that the proposed changes would not adversely affect patient care and services. The college will continue to work with the trusts as the new structure is implemented.
“Safeguarding the high quality of Imperial’s medical teaching and student supervision has been built into every stage of the consultation, and the new structure includes the creation of a new post of director of education.”
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