Hospital wards across the county are facing closure as the cash-strapped NHS tries to balance its books, reports the Kent on Sunday newspaper.
Concern is being expressed for elderly patients as hospitals prepare to cut beds.
Wards for the elderly are under threat in Margate and Canterbury, and further cuts have not been ruled out at Ashford, Dover and Folkestone.
The cuts are being caused by the £35 million of debt being suffered by East Kent Hospitals NHS trust and are aimed at saving money so that this debt can be repaid.
Trust chiefs have refused to reveal the full details of their plans, but the Kent on Sunday has learned that two wards at Margate’s Queen Elizabeth Queen Mother Hospital are under threat, as is one ward at the Kent and Canterbury Hospital.
Wards could also be closed at the William Harvey Hospital in Ashford, Buckland Hospital in Dover and Royal Victoria Hospital in Folkestone.
Kent and Sussex Hospital and Maidstone Hospital are also set to lose 120 beds, the Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust has said.
Campaign group Concern for Health in East Kent has raised fears that old and vulnerable patients may be forced out of their beds when wards are shut.
Article submitted by: Mr. D.B., Maidstone
Sunday, 20 August 2006
Sunday, 6 August 2006
Bedford: 200 jobs lost at hospital
This week more than 200 redundancies have been announced at Bedford Hospital, according to the local Bedfordshire on Sunday and Bedford Times & Citizen newspapers.
Union bosses have been told by hospital managers that up to one in eleven jobs will be cut because the hospital cannot meet its financial targets
In addition, more than 120 existing vacancies will be withdrawn or remain unfulfilled.
The hospital has brought in a financial ‘turnaround team’ to help pay back its £12 million deficit.
The moves have left staff from cleaners to consultants furious, with the cutbacks likely to affect patient care.
John Toomey, regional organiser for public sector workers union Unison said: "This is going to devastate the hospital.
There are not 200 people in the hospital who have little or nothing to do. Everybody is already rushed off their feet.
"We are not at a point where we can afford to lose 20 jobs at Bedford Hospital, let alone 200."
He added: "Bedford will not have a proper hospital any more, plain and simple."
Union bosses have been told by hospital managers that up to one in eleven jobs will be cut because the hospital cannot meet its financial targets
In addition, more than 120 existing vacancies will be withdrawn or remain unfulfilled.
The hospital has brought in a financial ‘turnaround team’ to help pay back its £12 million deficit.
The moves have left staff from cleaners to consultants furious, with the cutbacks likely to affect patient care.
John Toomey, regional organiser for public sector workers union Unison said: "This is going to devastate the hospital.
There are not 200 people in the hospital who have little or nothing to do. Everybody is already rushed off their feet.
"We are not at a point where we can afford to lose 20 jobs at Bedford Hospital, let alone 200."
He added: "Bedford will not have a proper hospital any more, plain and simple."
Thursday, 3 August 2006
Red tape kills care home
A holiday home that offers respite breaks for hundreds of disabled people is set to close after struggling to cope with the spiralling cost of care, reports the Eastern Daily Press.
The Norfolk-based charity which runs the home has been forced into the move because it can't find the £500,000 needed to meet the strict standards demanded by the government.
Hundreds of families from East Anglia depend on the centre to ease the strain of round-the-clock care.
One parent described her "total despair" if the home can no longer help her severely-disabled daughter.
All 23 staff, several of whom have worked there many years, have been told they face redundancy as the charity looks at a radical overhaul of its service to save money.
Maybe if the government weren't wasting billions of pounds by handing it to an organisation like the EU with a terrible record for waste and fraud, and that hasn't had its accounts approved by auditors for twelve years running, it could afford to make grants to hard-pressed charities like this one - to help them fund work necessary to meet the "strict standards" the government is setting.
The Norfolk-based charity which runs the home has been forced into the move because it can't find the £500,000 needed to meet the strict standards demanded by the government.
Hundreds of families from East Anglia depend on the centre to ease the strain of round-the-clock care.
One parent described her "total despair" if the home can no longer help her severely-disabled daughter.
All 23 staff, several of whom have worked there many years, have been told they face redundancy as the charity looks at a radical overhaul of its service to save money.
Maybe if the government weren't wasting billions of pounds by handing it to an organisation like the EU with a terrible record for waste and fraud, and that hasn't had its accounts approved by auditors for twelve years running, it could afford to make grants to hard-pressed charities like this one - to help them fund work necessary to meet the "strict standards" the government is setting.
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