Labour

New Treasury figures show redundancy payments 'spiralling upwards' - Burnham

Labour today lifts the lid on the sheer chaos at the heart of the Government's re-organisation of the NHS.
 
New figures released today expose how the NHS will spend an extra £617m on redundancies in 2011/12 than originally predicted by the Department of Health.
 
The Department of Health's Spring Estimates laid before Parliament reveal a £1 billion gap in Department of Health finances.
 
The surprise revelation backs up Labour's claims that the Government has severely under-estimated the true costs of its NHS re-organisation in its official estimate.
 
Earlier this week, it was revealed that NHS redundancies in Doncaster were costing over £3m - ten times more than the Health Secretary advised as recently as December last year. Labour fear that the cost of redundancy payments to NHS staff throughout England will be considerably higher than previously acknowledged.
 
Andy Burnham MP, Labour's Shadow Health Secretary, said:
 
"These eye-watering figures provide clear proof that the Tory-led Government has lost control of its NHS re-organisation. It is a shambles from top to bottom and the costs are clearly spiralling out of control.
 
"The publication of these figures is yet another humiliation for David Cameron and Andrew Lansley. The sheer scale of their miscalculation is evidence of the chaos that reigns at the heart of their misguided re-organisation. It is hard to say that they have lost his grip as it's not at all clear that they ever had it in the first place.
 
"It is simply unforgivable for David Cameron and Andrew Lansley to be wasting such inflated sums of money on this unnecessary vanity project when nursing posts are being lost and waiting targets are being missed. Scandalously, some of these pay-offs have been made to people who may end up being re-employed by Mr Lansley's new bodies.

"Today's figures are just the tip of the iceberg. They back up Labour's analysis that the Government has severely underestimated the true cost of its unnecessary NHS reorganisation.

"This whole process is now in total disarray and the call on the Government to drop the Bill is gaining momentum. Labour has shown how 6000 nursing posts can be protected by the costs saved if the Bill were to be dropped.

"These revelations will only add to the increasing pressure on the David Cameron to swallow his political pride, listen to what people are saying and drop the Bill."