Warning NHS making same mistakes that led to Mid Staffs scandal with bosses ‘considering cutting beds and closing hospitals’

NHS leaders are being forced to consider cutting hospital beds, closing hospitals, and even reducing services for children and cancer patients, a new study has claimed.

In a bid to meet savings targets from the government and reduce its £6.6 billion deficit, hospital leaders are now cutting or rationing patient care, according to think tank the King’s Fund.

A new study, published on Sunday, reveals NHS leaders said they have been forced to cut services thought of as not essential including hospital beds, community paediatric services, community phlebotomy, mental health support for cancer patients.

Hospital leaders also claimed they may have to consolidate hospital beds for services such as stroke or critical care beds.

The cuts come in a bid to meet government savings demands, called “eyewatering” by NHS leaders, to reduce the £6.6 billion deficit facing the NHS.

The government has been warned it could be repeating the mistakes made under a previous Labour government that led to the Mid Staffordshire scandal, in which between 400 and 1,200 patients, from January 2005 to March 2009, were estimated to have died as a result of poor care, by the Mid Staffordshire Hospitals trust.

A public inquiry into the scandal, led by Sir Robert Francis, revealed in 2013 that the failures were in part a consequence of the trust’s focus on achieving financial balance.

The King’s Fund report comes after hospital waiting lists in England rose for the first time in seven months to 7.42 treatments, 6.25 million patients, at the end of March. This is up from 7.40 million treatments and 6.24 million patients at the end of February.

Meanwhile, waiting lists for community services in England jumped from 1,077,514 in April 2024 to 1,090,356.

For community paediatric services, a service being cut by leaders according to the King’s Fund, waiting lists have risen from 125,603 in March 2024 to 171,092 children waiting for community paediatric services.

The King’s Fund report said: “Leaders also gave examples of non-core services they are reducing or cutting completely, such as community phlebotomy or community paediatrics, to maintain patient safety and focus on services that most impact clinical outcomes, often emergency or specialist treatments.

“An example of a non-core service, now seen as a ‘nice to have’, was clinical psychiatry to support people with cancer – a service that is key to patient experience but not considered core to clinical treatment.”

Responding to the report, Royal College of Nursing general secretary and chief executive Professor Nicola Ranger said: “It’s an appalling state of affairs when trust leaders talk about cutting frontline roles and closing beds to make savings. Nursing staff already face an almost impossible job as they try to keep patients safe amidst a workforce crisis and rising demand. The prospect of this situation worsening will fill every nursing professional with dread.

“This problem starts with the government, and ministers must stop putting arbitrary financial targets ahead of patient safety. That’s what happened at Mid Staffs, and I fear they could be set to repeat the mistakes of the past.

“This report shows there is no hope of delivering the government’s reforms whilst the NHS is simultaneously being asked to cut staff and services.”

As part of the drive, hospital leaders also told the think tank that services which are now being delivered by private providers at a cheaper rate than the NHS, could be cut altogether if the suppliers go bust or if the NHS cannot take these services back on.

“You cut fat, muscle, bone, and I think we’re at the bone point for most services and clinicians,” one leader told the think tank.

The report said hospital leaders are having to consider cutting hospital beds, or closing services, despite the UK having lower bed numbers compared to other high-income countries.

Earlier this month a survey of NHS trust leaders by NHS Providers revealed chiefs have already begun cutting frontline clinical posts in a bid to save money.

According to the King’s Fund in order to limit staffing costs providers are freezing recruitment of new staff, reducing overtime payments, and limiting their use of bank and agency staff.

A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said: “This government invested an extra £26 billion through the Autumn Budget to fix the broken health and care system we inherited and make it fit for the future.”

“Through our Plan for Change, we are determined to tackle inefficiencies and drive-up productivity in the NHS.

“Investment must go hand in hand with reform, and the Secretary of State has told the NHS to go back to basics – halving the number of national targets and giving local leaders a clear direction to focus on the things that matter to patients.”