5000 HOSPITAL JOBS SACRIFICED TO PAY FOR CONSULTANTS' 20% PAY RISE; SCANDAL OF STAFF CUTS ON WARDS.

Byline: By LINDSAY McGARVIE

NHS bosses are preparing to shed around 5000 jobs over the next year to pay for a 20 per cent pay increase for hospital consultants.

Scotland's biggest health union Unison fears health boards will be forced to axe key staff such as nurses to pay for that rise which will cost pounds 50million a year across the country.

The consultants' rise which will see some earnings soar from pounds 70,715 to pounds 88,000 is one of a number of major extra costs totalling around pounds 205million which the health service will incur in the next 12 months.

One senior health service insider told the Sunday Mail: 'There are major financial strains on the health service because of changes in pay and conditions.

'We are facing a couple of years of pain, cutting bureaucracy. As many as 4000 to 5000 jobs could go across all 15 health boards.

'But there is no way that core workers such as nurses will be forced out of their jobs.'

The major extra costs facing the 15 newly-created unified health boards in the next year include:

pounds 50million to pay for the new consultants' contract.

pounds 25million for the new GP wage deal.

pounds 30million for junior doctors' new deal.

pounds 40million for Agenda for Change, the proposed new national NHS pay and terms and conditions system.

pounds 60million for the hike in the cost of drugs to treat heart disease, cancer and drug addicts.

Worst-hit will be NHS Greater Glasgow which aims to lose a minimum of 500 health workers over the next year through natural wastage.

It is expected that many of the job losses will come through administration and ancillary workers from the four former trusts which are now divisions of NHS Greater Glasgow.

Health board chiefs are expected to make efficiency savings in their budgets by not refilling the jobs of health service workers who leave or retire.

Unison health organiser Jim Devine said he anticipates NHS job losses of around 5000 a year to avoid a pounds 205million spending black hole.

He said: 'We are deeply concerned that cuts will be made by not replacing nursing jobs that become vacant.

'The reality is that issues such as the consultants' pay rise were not fully funded, leading to the necessity for massive efficiency savings.

'It is a national scandal that one consultant's pay rise is a nurse's unem-ployment.' The Glasgow board's goal is to operate from one HQ, with one finance department and a single human resources unit.

In addition, the board are closing three accident and emergency units at the Victoria Infirmary, Stobhill and Gartnavel. The city will then be served by two A&Es at the Royal Infirmary and Southern General.

Board insiders say that change is necessary to put an end to five sets of 'highly-paid consultants and anaesthetists' being on call, even at times of very low pressure.

It is also considering a controversial plan to close the Queen Mother's maternity hospital.

A spokesman for NHS Greater Glasgow admitted they are facing 'severe financial challenges' over the next two years.

Their board will meet on April 20 to discuss how to tackle the financial crisis.

They admitted that unless sweeping cost-cuts are made, they could overspend their pounds 1.2billion budget by pounds 60million over the next two years.

The spokesman said: 'The board made no secret of the pressures we face and we are working on a financial plan that will deliver the means to fund a huge increase in the cost of drug treatment, mental health services and new GP contracts.'

They insisted that they are committed to a 'no compulsory redundancy' agreement. But SNP shadow health minister Shona Robison condemned the prospect of major NHS job losses.

She said: 'The last thing the NHS can afford is job losses.

'We already have a massive nursing crisis and ministers must ensure that the money is there to turn this around.

'Doctors, particularly junior doctors, deserve to be properly paid.

'But this Government have made it their pledge to improve patient care and that is palpably not happening.'

A spokesman for the Scottish Executive health department would not confirm the scale of either potential NHS job losses or the extra cost of new pay deals.

mailfile The nurse

THERE are near ly 2000 nurs i ng vacancies in NHS Scot land, 1516 f or f u

l y-qua

i f i ed nurses . Unions say the shortfall has been caused by a combination of

ow s t ar t i ng wages new

y-qua

i f i ed nurses begin on pounds 16 , 525 rising to pounds 18,240 after five years unsociable hours, an increasing work

oad and poor mora

e . Hea

th bosses spent nearly pounds 30mi

l i on

ast year to hire private agency nurses and the Roya

Co

l ege o f Nurs i ng say the cr i s i s will grow, with 7558 nurses due to retire in the next five years.

Hosp i t a

s are h i r i ng nurses from countries as far away as the Ph i

i pp i nes . Earlier this year Sou t h G

asgow hea

t h t rus t h i red 32 Filipinos from a gangmaster, letting them live on just pounds 8 a day.

mailfile The consultant

THE new consu

t an t s' pay dea

was brought in because t hey were no t pa i d ex t ra f or be i ng on ca

l . By t he end o f May minimum salary of pounds 54,340 will rise to pounds 65,035. The maximum for the 3000 Scottish consultants will increase from pounds 70,715 to pounds 88,000.

Health minister Malcolm Chisholm admitted that the overall b i

l f or the 20 per cent r i se hadn ' t been proper

y costed .

Despite spending a record pounds 7.3billion on the NHS last year, the Scottish Executive will not allocate extra funds for the consultants' contract, leaving boards to meet the rise through cuts.

The rise for Glasgow's consultants will add pounds 15million to the city's NHS wage bill. NHS Lothian expects to pay out pounds 8.5million extra, Gramp i an pounds 5m i

l i on more and Lanarksh i re pounds 3 . 4m i

l i on .