BMJ  2006;332:927 (22 April), doi:10.1136/bmj.332.7547.927

News

Prime minister tells troubled trusts to "hold their nerve"

London

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

Tony Blair has intervened personally in the financial and political storm over NHS debts and job losses. He summoned the chief executives of 16 of the most debt ridden hospital and primary care trusts to Downing Street to discuss the progress of "turnaround teams," the financial and management specialists despatched to help the trusts balance their books.

The meeting on Wednesday last week came just hours after the West Hertfordshire Hospitals NHS Trust announced that it would axe up to 500 jobs to tackle its deficit of £28.6m (41.3m; $50.3m).

In recent weeks trusts in England and Wales have announced around 7000 job losses as they battle financial difficulties. The NHS is thought to have reached a record debt of more than £700m in the latest financial year.

At the Downing Street summit three areas were on the agenda: wages bills, particularly those for temporary staff; patients' length of . . . [Full text of this article]

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