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Milburn labeled a 'hypocrite' over spending plans
By: Patrick Butler
The Guardian, March 13, 2001
The health secretary, Alan Milburn, has been branded a "hypocrite" after he unveiled a package of cash handouts to recruit scarce health workers just months after he declared that pay increases would not solve staffing problems.
The measures, which will cost £56m a year, aim to tackle shortages of GPs and nurses. The initiative follows chancellor Gordon Brown's Budget announcement of £135m for NHS recruitment.
Mr Milburn today announced a series of incentive payments to attract young doctors into general practice, persuade older GPs not to retire early and to boost the income of nurses in training.
The measures include one-off £5,000 "golden hello" payments to newly qualified GPs, with an extra £5,000 for those who take jobs in deprived areas, where staff shortages are most acute.
GPs nearing retirement age will receive a £10,000 "golden goodbye" if they agree to work up to their 65th birthday, while trainee nurses are to get an increase of between £200 and £500 in their student bursaries.
Mr Milburn said: "The initiatives I am announcing today will mean we can make an extra effort to recruit and retain the NHS doctors and nurses we need, as well as encouraging those who have left to return."
But the shadow health secretary, Dr Liam Fox, accused Mr Milburn of "rank hypocrisy", pointing out that his evidence to the nurses pay review body last autumn argued that recruitment problems could be solved through non-pay measures, such as training and childcare provision.
He said: "In his evidence to the nurses' pay review body, Alan Milburn stated that there was no need for a pay increase on the grounds of recruitment problems.
"[Now] he is admitting that the opposite is the case. Even by Labour's standards, today's announcement is an astonishing attempt at deception."
The government's evidence to the doctors and dentists pay review body last September also played down staffing problems, declaring that "the overall recruitment and retention position (for doctors) remains healthy".
It also argued that money had little effect on GPs retirement intentions, claiming that "only 6% [of doctors] quote financial considerations as the reason" for leaving the service.
The government will argue that the cash handouts are "targeted measures" at problem areas, which will prove effective than across-the-board rises; but it is also an admission that its attempts to solve the NHS staffing crisis are in need of a boost.
Ministers know that the scheme is crucial to the government's ability to meet its own targets for increasing the numbers of staff in the
NHS. The NHS plan, published last year pledged, an extra 20,000 nurses and 2,000 GPs for England by 2004. Under the scheme, ministers also hope to lure back former GPs who have left the profession with a £5,000 cash incentive.
There will be £1,000 and £1,500 bonus payments for qualified nurses, and midwives respectively who complete refresher courses to prepare them for a return to the
NHS. |
