An anti-NHS cuts campaigner says the recent resignations of senior management at Barts Health Trust should "come as no suprise" given its £93m deficit. 

Andrew Sharp lives in Highams Park and is a member of Waltham Forest Save Our NHS. He is also the founder of the National Health Action (NHA) group for Waltham Forest and stood as a candidate in last year’s European elections.

Here is his first-hand account. 

"The deficit at Barts Health NHS Trust which runs Whipps Cross Hospital has soared to £93m.

"This news comes as no surprise to Waltham Forest Save our NHS campaigners. The recent resignations of chairman sir Stephen O’Brien, chief executive, Peter Morris, chief nurse, Kay Riley and finance director Mark Ogden seem inevitable under the circumstances.

"East London suffers significant levels of poverty and deprivation leading to ill health, yet receives some of the lowest funding in England. Despite this, local health services have been told to make an 11% cut over the next five years.

"In 2013, when Barts prepared to cut posts and downgrade staff we warned that experienced staff would leave, putting remaining staff under strain and jeopardising patient care.

"Many Whipps staff detailed their concerns and implored the Trust not to implement the proposals. The Trust did not listen. Now our concerns are reality.

"Barts’ personnel strategy failed. Staff turnover is high. Agency costs have doubled. Barts spent almost £1m in 10 months on a "turnaround" management consultant and £935,000 on advice from ‘Titanium Global Solutions’.

"Given the spiraling debt, this waste of public money is offensive to staff who lost their jobs or had their pay downgraded.

"A Care Quality Commission report revealed that some staff fear the repercussions of reporting concerns about the impact of financial cuts on the patients in their care.

"Last month Peter Morris described the findings as a "tragedy". We find this deeply ironic. The Trust's treatment of Charlotte Monro - whose Employment Tribunal concludes this month - was bound to make staff fear raising issues that question or challenge management.

"All this is in the context of Private Finance Initiative costs that increase each year - financial pressures that no amount of "management" or cuts will solve. Barts spends over £43m a year on interest payments for its hospitals built via England’s biggest PFI: loans from private companies Innisfree and Skanska.

"Government funding offers much better value to taxpayers. Barts pays these companies over £2m a week. We can ill afford such scandalous costs.

"We heard that Carillion has taken over the canteen at Whipps. We understand the canteen was generating revenue for the hospital, money that is now diverted to a private company. We are dismayed by this decision given Carillion’s poor track record on cleaning and catering services at hospitals elsewhere.

"The events at Barts reflect what's happening throughout our NHS, events escalated by the Health and Social Care Act 2012. Market principles and competition don't work in a health service.

"Waltham Forest Save our NHS say that our health service will only be safe from crises when it is properly funded and PFI debt annulled. The Health and Social Care Act should be repealed."

Barts NHS Heath Trust has been contacted for a comment. 

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