Procurement jobs in the NHS could be merged as part of massive restructuring that will save £600 million, a new report has said.

Commissioned by the Department of Health and published by the Foundation Trust Network (FTN), the review of back office efficiency points to a range of ways in which all facets of the NHS can collaborate to make savings.

The report suggests that streamlining procurement, finance, human resources, information management and technology, estates management, governance and risk, and payroll could be achieved through sharing services.

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The Royal College of Nursing says care will suffer as a result of the job losses, despite the government’s diktat that the cuts must not jeopardise these standards. Even trusts with the keenest management skills, which manage to hang onto their nurses, midwives and other healthcare workers, will find it hard to lose this number of staff without stretching nurses beyond their traditional roles.

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The NHS Confederation, which represents NHS trusts, said cuts in local authority budgets will mean reduced care and services for the elderly and vulnerable reports Channel 4 News

“Nigel Edwards, the acting head of the NHS Confederation, said that while they welcomed the £2 billion allocated for social care in the Comprehensive Spending Review, there was still enormous pressure on local authorities.  Central Government support for councils in England will be reduced by 27 per cent over the next four years.”

The full news item is here

It takes all sorts and the spectrum of opinions about NHS pay is wide and varied.

In the FT today Alex Comer writes: “Consultants and GPs did very well under the last government and neither can be described as anything other than very well paid, particularly when one considers the low level of career risk and gold-plated pensions. According to the Office for National Statistics, health professionals have the highest median salary (£1,031 a week) in the UK, and by international standards our doctors and nurses are among the highest paid. A 10 per cent pay cut should be the starting point.

Soldiers, teachers, police and social workers should not be made redundant so that our healthcare professionals can enjoy a standard of living out of kilter with other public servants and at a level the country can no longer afford.”

We’re guessing that agreement on this point of view wouldn’t be unanimous.

The full letter is here (free subscription needed).

Despite the promise of the coalition government to protect the NHS from the cuts, 15,000 NHS workers have been culled in the past 9 months reports The Independent.

“Dozens of hospitals have shut wards or removed beds – or are planning to do so – while others have announced plans to save millions by scaling back on the services they offer.

“Aid agencies are also preparing for a major shortfall in expected government aid over the next two years, even though Britain’s aid budget was the only other area that David Cameron promised to exempt from cuts.”

The full article is here