Cancer backlog ‘vulnerable’ to pay deal cuts at ‘worst possible time’

Proposed diagnostic funding cuts come at ‘worst possible’ time for cancer backlog, senior doctors warns

NHS staff looking at the results of a lung scan (PA)

A £2billion cut to NHS budgets caused by the government’s unfunded pay deal for staff will hit “vulnerable” cancer backlogs and patient care, experts have warned.

Following its pay deal for public sector workers, which will mean most NHS staff get a real term pay cut, the government confirmed any pay increases would come from existing public sector budgets.

The NHS has said it will have to make cuts to plans for expanding diagnostic and technology capacity to find the money needed for the pay deal which will offer 4.5 per cent on average to doctors and dentists.

Dr Julian Elford, a senior Radiologist has warned the implications of the pay award come at “the worst possible moment” for the NHS and will inevitably impact cancer diganosis rates.

Major cancer charity Macmillan has said the unfunded pay deal “will only exacerbate issues that thinly stretched cancer services are already experiencing due to a severely backlogged system.”

Meanwhile, healthcare leaders have warned it is “not possible” for hospitals to make efficiency savings and so the decision to not fund pay awards “will hit patient services.”

As the government faces the threat of nurse strikes, the chair of the British Medical Associations’ junior doctor committee also told The Independent that excluding junior doctors from the pay deal has sparked levels of anger in medics seen last when they took strike action in 2015-16.

Ben Zaranko, economist for the Institute of Fiscal studies said the budgetary implications for the public sector as a whole would be between £4.5 billion to £7 billion.

He said although these are “big sums” they’re “far smaller than some of the tax cuts floated by some of the leadership candidates and could be readily met from within the ‘fiscal headroom’ available to the government under the OBR’s March forecasts.”

He said providing any new funding for the public sector pay rises would be a “substantial” challenge for the incoming government but not enormous.

‘Worst possible time’

NHS England told hospital chiefs they will recieve £2 billion from central budgets to fund the pay award, according to the Health Service Journal.

This comes after it confirmed yesterday funding the government’s pay award would impact the “planned rollout of tech and diagnostic capacity across the health service.”

Dr Julian Elford a consultant radiologist told The Independent “We’ve got the combined pressure of the sub inflation pay award, which is going to further demotivate already stressed and burnt-out staff.

“We have been told that we are supposed to be improving diagnostic weights and we’re supposed to be investing in diagnostic capacity and diagnostic pathways, so this is the worst possible time that money could be taken out of the diagnostic pathway.

“That’s going to have an impact on patients who are already having to wait for diagnostics for patients who are worried that they might have cancer.”

He said: “The main thrust of the health service in the last two decades has been to improve cancer, and heart disease. Those areas are going to be the most vulnerable [to cuts], probably the cancer diagnostic [most]. We already have some of the lowest cancer survival rates in this country but this is not going to do anything to improve cancer survival rates.”

Eve Byrne, director of advocacy at Macmillan Cancer Support, said: “It’s immensely disappointing that staff working in cancer care, and throughout NHS England, have still not been recognised with the pay rise they deserve. In the absence of additional funding, using existing budgets to increase pay will only exacerbate issues that thinly stretched cancer services are already experiencing due to a severely backlogged system.

Miriam Deakin, interim deputy chief executive of NHS Providers, said: “It’s very disappointing that crucial diagnostics funding will have to be cut this financial year and technology schemes pared back, limiting the ability of the NHS to improve care and meet patients’ needs as planned.

“Diverting nearly £2billion of essential NHS funding because government has chosen not to fully fund the NHS pay uplifts means that the NHS has even less money to deliver on long-term plans and ambitions. It isn’t possible for trusts to find more efficiency savings on top of already stretching targets. So this will hit patient services.”

“NHS England has already had to redirect £1.5billion to account for inflation and had to absorb extra costs for COVID testing. All of this means less money for other priorities right across the health service, and will hamper trusts’ efforts to tackle backlogs and improve cancer care.”

Anger overpay cuts

Health unions reacted with anger on Tuesday at the government’s pay offer, which will see doctors, doctors, and nurses on average get a 4.5 per cent pay increase, and lower paid staff such as porters a 9.3 per cent increase this year.

The pay awards however largely will result in real terms pay cuts once inflation, which is set to rise to 12 per cent, is accounted for.

The Royal College of Nursing has said it will now ballot for industrial action. If it receives enough votes this would lead to unprecedented strike action in England, Scotland and Wales.

Junior doctor’s committee were not included in this pay deal and are currently on a four deal which allows for a 2 per cent uplift, which expires in March 2023.

The goverment’s pay review body however do have the powers to increase the junior doctors uplift in exception circumstances.

Speaking with The Independent, Dr Sarah Hallet co-chair for the British Medical Association’s Junior Doctor’s committee said the union was now having an emergency meeting which would likely result in it calling for the government to review pay this year.

She added excluding juniors has “really caused a spark of anger, so we’re expecting that to just continue to build and we are already getting calls for industrial action...There are echoes of 201-16 the same kind of sparks of anger that the government provoked last time I think they’re in real danger of creating a similar situation this time.”

The junior doctor’s committee had originally envisioned any strike action happening in Spring next year however the Dr Halley said action may happen sooner.