CONSEQUENCES OF NHS FINANCIAL DEFICITS

Early day motion 1066, tabled 17 November 2005 by Lord Howard of Lympne (Conservative). Signed by 9 members.

That this House supports the provision by the NHS of comprehensive, high quality health services, based on need and not ability to pay; notes that, despite unprecedented resources provided to the NHS, NHS trusts were over £600 million in deficit in 2004-05 and predict deficits approaching £1 billion this year; believes that these deficits threaten the delivery of NHS services, through service cuts, freezing of staff vacancies and redundancies, bed closures and the closure of services in community hospitals; further believes that the uncertainty caused by proposed primary care trust restructuring should not be used to obscure responsibility for financial recovery and service continuity; wishes to see resources reach front-line healthcare providers; regrets the lack of savings in NHS overhead and administration costs; and calls on the Government to intervene to ensure that the long-term interests of patients are not damaged by short-term financial decisions.

Signatures by party: Conservative 9.