A local authority has drawn up plans to cut dozens of jobs and slash services to avoid a council tax hike of more than 20% - reports the Manchester Evening News.
Council chiefs in Oldham have revealed they would face a staggering black hole of £13.6m in their accounts for 2008/9 - even if they repeated last year's tax rise of 4.9%.
To close the gap they would need to increase council tax by around 21%.
Instead they have drafted a report listing cost-cutting measures that would total £17.15m. They include the loss of 32 jobs and the closure of five lifelong learning centres.
Other proposed savings include reducing agency costs, more efficient purchases of goods and services, and a review of the council's property holdings.
These options will now go out to consultation before final decisions are taken in February.
Finance chiefs have highlighted inflation and a loss of external funding as major reasons behind the shortfall.
They added that the decision to invest in the Building Schools for the Future programme, where a £1m investment was required to secure more than £200m of external funding, provided further pressure.
David Jones, the Labour group and council leader, said: "Our finance team forecast the pressures we would face next year at a very early stage, giving us plenty of time to develop sensible solutions.
"Oldham is way ahead of many other local authorities in developing options early."
But Coun Howard Sykes, Lib Dem opposition leader, criticised the council and said the report was `unclear'.
He said: "It is very difficult to believe that they can carve this much out of the budget without it affecting services. I think they are being forced to look under the rug. I don't know exactly what they mean in the report but we will be tracking it closely and find out.
"Mike Williamson, of the GMB Union, agreed. He accused the council of using `gobbledygook' and said there would be `an obvious impact on services and jobs'.
Showing posts with label oldham. Show all posts
Showing posts with label oldham. Show all posts
Wednesday, 10 October 2007
Friday, 18 May 2007
Manchester: Hospital beds axe fear
Staff at North Manchester General Hospital are 'demoralised', according to their hospital union, as trust bosses look to cut dozens of beds to trim a £12M debt - reports the Manchester Evening News.
Negotiations between Pennine Acute Trust managers and hospital staff continue over 60 bed cuts at the Crumpsall hospital over the next year, just as a Healthcare Commission report finds that a third of patients across Pennine Acute Trust's (PAT) four hospitals already have to share wards or bays with people of the opposite sex.
Some 29 beds on North Manchester General's short-stay surgical unit could be first in line to be axed, along with 14 beds at Royal Oldham.
Unison's Pete Hinchliffe said: "We are opposed to all the bed closures because we cannot see that it is anything but detrimental to the services - it is driven purely by finance.
"We are in discussions with managers about plans for surgical bed cuts in Oldham and are now speaking to staff at North Manchester.
"Staff need to know where these job cuts will be as soon as possible. It is unsettling and demoralising for them to have the cuts hanging over them like this."
Trust bosses have confirmed that managers are considering where to make the cuts which they claim form part of a package of 'improvements', but say no final decision has yet been made. Staff affected by the changes would be offered other jobs with the trust.
Roger Pickering, a PAT director, said: "Decisions have not been made to close specific wards. As we announced previously, our recovery programme involves reducing a number of beds from each site.
"We've asked staff in our operational divisions to work up proposals for each site, so there will certainly be ideas in the system, and discussions across all of our sites. However, this is different to formal proposals agreed by the trust.
"We are not at that stage - once we are then staff will be informed. We have been very open about reducing bed numbers, and the need to engage staff in developing the proposals so that we get this right."
Negotiations between Pennine Acute Trust managers and hospital staff continue over 60 bed cuts at the Crumpsall hospital over the next year, just as a Healthcare Commission report finds that a third of patients across Pennine Acute Trust's (PAT) four hospitals already have to share wards or bays with people of the opposite sex.
Some 29 beds on North Manchester General's short-stay surgical unit could be first in line to be axed, along with 14 beds at Royal Oldham.
Unison's Pete Hinchliffe said: "We are opposed to all the bed closures because we cannot see that it is anything but detrimental to the services - it is driven purely by finance.
"We are in discussions with managers about plans for surgical bed cuts in Oldham and are now speaking to staff at North Manchester.
"Staff need to know where these job cuts will be as soon as possible. It is unsettling and demoralising for them to have the cuts hanging over them like this."
Trust bosses have confirmed that managers are considering where to make the cuts which they claim form part of a package of 'improvements', but say no final decision has yet been made. Staff affected by the changes would be offered other jobs with the trust.
Roger Pickering, a PAT director, said: "Decisions have not been made to close specific wards. As we announced previously, our recovery programme involves reducing a number of beds from each site.
"We've asked staff in our operational divisions to work up proposals for each site, so there will certainly be ideas in the system, and discussions across all of our sites. However, this is different to formal proposals agreed by the trust.
"We are not at that stage - once we are then staff will be informed. We have been very open about reducing bed numbers, and the need to engage staff in developing the proposals so that we get this right."
Labels:
hospitals,
manchester,
NHS cuts,
oldham
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