Cllr Brenda Lancaster
Commenting on newspaper reports* that leaked government documents are forecasting a glut of NHS hospital consultants and an acute shortage of nurses by March 2011, Councillor Brenda Lancaster (Chair of the council's Health and Adult Social Care Scrutiny Board) said:
"Ministers are in denial about the impact of the current crisis on patient care. Recruitment freezes and job losses are seriously affecting nurses, whilst these documents predict that in four years time there will be over 3,000 unwanted consultants.
"Saving money on nurses can be dangerously counter-productive. The result will be demoralised and burnt out staff, greater reliance on expensive agency nurses, and poorer patient care.
"The NHS needs a period of stability, free from political meddling, to allow nurses to get on with treating and caring for patients on the wards."
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