National Health Service

[SteveH]

THE leadership of North Wales? health board face making ?hard choices? as it grapples with its deteriorating financial position.

Russell Caldicott, recently appointed interim director of finance at Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board, gave an update on the health board?s ongoing financial deficit at its meeting this week.

He said: ?In terms of our current performance we see a ?2.9m deterioration in our position on the back of a ?1 million deterioration in April so it?s 3.9m. That deterioration has continued.

?We are now at a cumulative 9.3 million deficit. You can see we?re going beyond a plan that committed more cash resource and having to find that additional cash as well is going to be incredibly challenging for us. It?s a very difficult position.?

Mr Caldicott said pay award increase costs were a contributing factor towards the deficit.

He added: ?Every month that becomes more difficult to recover from, every month we delay taking those challenges on board we face a bigger challenge in the remaining months of the calendar year.

?Unfortunately it?s a position that shows we are deteriorating in terms of financial performance, certainly in revenue and there is a real concern for us as we move forwards just in terms of our cash projections.?

The meeting heard that the health board had earmarked 7m just to cover agency costs through June.

cont https://www.northwalespioneer.co.uk/news/23695780.north-wales-health-boards-deteriorating-finances/

[SteveH]

We need every incentive to get medical staff into Wales, there is going to be a revolt soon.

Doctors have rejected a Welsh government offer of a 5% pay rise.

It would have covered consultants, junior doctors, and specialist doctors on contracts dating to 2008.

The British Medical Association Cymru said those on 2021 specialist contracts would get no increase other than that already in their multi-year pay deal.

The BMA's Iona Collins called it the "worst offer in the UK", but the Welsh government said there were limits without more UK government money.

BMA committees will meet within the next fortnight to decide whether to enter a dispute with the Welsh government and ballot for industrial action.

"A 5% uplift represents yet another pay cut in real terms and serves only to increase the losses faced by doctors, after more than a decade's worth of sub-inflation pay awards," said Dr Collins, who chairs the BMA's Welsh council.

The offer, she said, did "not comply with Welsh government's formal commitment to the principle of full pay restoration".

cont https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-66399552

[DVT]

Just highlights the useless Welsh government ... millions spent on changing road signs, plenty of money to finance asylum seekers ... but complaining about lack of funds for the essential people in the NHS.

They really need to consider just how they use the money that the UK government give us - if it's not enough, as claimed, then spend what you have wisely.

[Hugo]

A friend told me that on a Colwyn Bay forum it was reported that a number of complaints about the West End Medical Centre were made to Darren Millar the MS for Clwyd West.    He then arranged a meeting with the Medical Centre hoping to sort out the issues raised only to be told by the centre that Betsi Cadwaladr had issued instructions to the centre not to talk to Mr Millar
Now if they won't discuss issues with the MS what chance does  the ordinary person have?

[SteveH]

We can't take any more, says NHS as doctors strike
Junior doctors have started a four-day walkout, with health bosses warning the NHS cannot take any more disruption.

The strike by members of the British Medical Association (BMA) began at 07:00 BST and lasts until Tuesday.

It is the junior doctors' fifth strike in the pay dispute in England.

NHS Providers said services were at tipping point because covering the junior doctor strikes had cost an estimated ?1bn, as well leading to thousands of postponed treatments.
cont https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-66463694

How much do junior doctors really get paid in England?
Junior doctors in England are starting their fifth round of strike action with no sign of a breakthrough in their bitter pay dispute with the government.

The doctors' union, the BMA, made headlines earlier this year when it said pay had fallen so far behind inflation that its members would be better off serving coffee than treating patients. The government described that as misleading and said the average junior doctor earns between ?20 and ?30 an hour.

In reality, that term - junior doctor - covers someone fresh out of medical school right up to those with a decade or more of experience. And pay is complicated, with salaries varying massively as medics move up grades when they become more skilled and start to specialise.

BBC News asked two junior doctors, at different stages of their careers, to show us their wage slips and explain exactly how much they earn.
cont https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-66360656

[SteveH]

NHS: UK government offers to help cut Wales waiting times
The UK government has said it wants to work with the Welsh government to help reduce NHS waiting times.

UK Health Secretary Steve Barclay has invited Welsh and Scottish ministers to discuss how to "get patients seen more quickly".

He said he would be "open to requests" for Welsh and Scottish patients who were "waiting lengthy periods" to be treated in England.

The Welsh government declined to respond directly to the offer of talks.

Welsh ministers previously said long waiting list times were "falling every month in Wales".

The health service in Wales is run by the Welsh government but some NHS patients travel to England for treatment.
cont https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-66488586


The health secretary has invited the Welsh and Scottish governments to discuss how best to tackle NHS waiting lists, as millions wait for hospital treatment across the UK.
Steve Barclay accused them of having worse delays than England in some cases - but they disputed the figures.

Hospital waiting lists in England hit a record 7.57 million people in June.

Mr Barclay also said he was open to Scottish and Welsh patients being treated in England.

NHS services are devolved, meaning Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland control them in those nations, while the UK government runs them in England.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has made cutting waiting lists one of his "five priorities", and he's said people should hold him to account if NHS waiting lists in England do not fall by January 2025.

So far the numbers are not moving in the right direction.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-66490038

[SteveH]

The government has announced ?250m in funding to provide an extra 5,000 NHS hospital beds in England this winter.

Ministers say 900 new beds should be ready by January, with the remainder to follow soon after, boosting capacity and helping lower record waiting lists.

The increase will mean nearly 100,000 permanent beds on wards and in A&E, available at the busiest time of the year - a 5% rise on current levels.

NHS Providers said the extra capacity was needed "before winter begins".

Miriam Deakin, director of policy and strategy at NHS Providers, said trusts would welcome the support but cautioned any new beds would need to be staffed.

cont https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-66499997

[SteveH]

A row has broken out about hospital waiting lists in Wales and England.

The Welsh Health Minister Eluned Morgan accused her English counterpart Steve Barclay of a "naked political hit".

Mr Barclay said he was open to requests to help treat long-waiting Welsh patients over the border.

Ms Morgan said England had issues of its own, but admitted NHS Wales was "challenged in terms of waiting lists".

But what can we tell about the two?

Can NHS waiting times in Wales be compared England?    cont https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-66511635

[SteveH]

NHS consultant strike: How pay compares globally

Senior hospital doctors are taking part in their second strike of the year in England in a dispute over pay.

The two-day walkout begins at 07:00 BST with NHS bosses warning patients to expect significant disruption.

But as the strike begins, an analysis by the Nuffield Trust has shed fresh light on their pay levels.

It has found while salaries have not kept up with inflation, NHS senior doctors are still earning more than counterparts in a number of countries.

The analysis, which takes into account the cost of living in different countries, placed them above those in France, Spain and Italy as well as New Zealand last year.

cont plus stats https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-66595839

[SteveH]

Potentially good news for a change, fingers crossed.........................

Plans to build new operating theatres at Llandudno Hospital considered
Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board said a business case was being finalised

More surgeries could soon be carried out at Llandudno Hospital if plans submitted to Conwy Council are approved. Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board has submitted two planning applications to Conwy?s planning department for the general hospital on Hospital Road.

If the plans get the go-head, existing operating theatres will be extended and the health board will build new theatres, together with ancillary accommodation for staff. An extension to the existing X-ray department will also see services potentially improved, providing extended X-ray facilities with mammography rooms.

cont https://www.dailypost.co.uk/news/north-wales-news/plans-build-new-operating-theatres-27618477

[SteveH]

An executive director at an under-fire health board was paid more than three times the maximum allowed for her role, a report has revealed.

Gaynor Thomason was paid equivalent to a ?469,500 annual salary as interim director of nursing and midwifery at Betsi Cadwaladr.

It is the latest financial issue raised at the health board, which was returned to special measures in February.

The health board said it was "determined to improve".

An Audit Wales report said Ms Thomason's wage was more than three times what was allowed under Welsh government rules.

The Welsh government states the role should come under pay band 14, which offers a maximum annual salary of ?149,334.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-66665499

[mondie]

Betsi Cadwaladr is in terminal decline, it is difficult to see how it will ever recover. The system is utterly broken and needs to be fixed from the top down by strong leadership, lots of money, and the attraction of hordes of experience from elsewhere, and where is all that going to come from? Two members of my immediate family work for the NHS and the unending daily examples they tell of poor management, negligence and blase attitudes, negligent patient care, and the general day-to-day incompetence that is not only tolerated but covered up by the system, is staggering.

We have lived in the area since 2017 and I will be retiring next year. BC is one of the main reasons we will not be staying in the area.

[SteveH]

Mondie........Sorry to hear you are leaving the area, but best wishes for a good retirement.

[Hugo]

Mondie,    I was sad to read your post, sad too because every word you have said is true and it's not likely to get better unless some drastic measures are introduced.
Gone forever are the days when you could walk in to a GP's surgery, sign a register and be seen by the GP that day.  Gone too are the Matrons who used to run the hospital wards effectively and efficiently.    Where are the nurses homes that the nurses lived in and had their training on site?
I believe that other areas have problems too but I'd like to wish you a happy and healthy retirement wherever that may be

[mondie]

Thanks, Steve and Hugo, I will be around for a while yet. Just need to ensure I don't get seriously ill