labourpress:

Heidi Alexander MP, Labour’s Shadow Health Secretary, responding to quarter three figures showing NHS trusts are already in a deficit of £2.26 billion, said:

“The Tories have caused the worst cash crisis in the NHS’s history.

“Hospitals were already forecasting a £2.2 billion deficit this year. However, today’s figures show the black hole in the NHS’s finances is already larger than that with three months of the financial year still left to go.

“The Government needs to be honest about what this crisis means for patient care. It means cuts to frontline staff, longer waits for treatment and services at risk of closure.

“Ministers are in denial, but the staggering decline in the NHS’s financial performance is a direct result of decisions they made. They cut nurse training places and forced hospitals to drain resources on expensive agency staff, which is still the primary cause of NHS deficits.

“No amount of spin can disguise the fact that the NHS is now in financial free fall and Tory Ministers have absolutely no solution for turning this situation around.”

(via labourpress)