Securing a safer future as cuts bite

After numerous debates in the Commons, the Government is now pushing ahead with its plans to reform the NHS, aiming to secure savings of £20 billion by 2015. Despite concerns that the decentralisation of NHS budgets and the optimistic savings projections will create a pressure on NHS chiefs to make “slash and burn” cuts in service, and “knee-jerk” closures and redundancies, the ageing population, and the rising cost of new drugs, mean that savings do indeed have to be made. Under the Government’s latest plan, GPs and clinicians, formed into clinical commissioning groups, will be given more responsibility for spending, while private sector and charity involvement will also increase. This will eventually lead to the phasing out of Primary Care Trusts and Strategic Health Authorities. Although the true impact of these changes cannot yet be measured, the Government has advised that this will lead to greater choice for patients when deciding on where they are treated, as well as significant long-term cost savings.

Stark reality

However, a starker reality of these changes will be cuts in staff numbers and back-end services, with estimates that 20,000 jobs could be lost in NHS management and administration. While the debate continues into the validity of savings claims, and the impact of NHS reform on patient care, there is bound to be an effect on service and product suppliers to the NHS, both in terms of budgets, and functionality. Staff and budget cuts, as well as the localised distribution of responsibility, will affect security. This ripple effect has already started in some regions, with Kettering General Hospital being one example of a major healthcare facility where significant changes are being made to security arrangements as a result of cost-saving efforts. In a bid to save £12 million, the Kettering General Hospital NHS Foundation Trust board has decided to cut all security staff, saving the Trust £120,000 per year. Similarly, Wythenshawe Hospital in Manchester has replaced its security staff with a combination of a new intercom system, and electronic tagging in its maternity department, in a bid to reduce operating costs and overheads. This all signifies changes in the administration of security, and its role within healthcare facilities, creating implications for security products’ functionality, purpose, and cost. So, in the light of these reforms, what do security products now need to offer hospitals, surgeries, and care facilities?