A HEALTH chief has admitted for the first time that there could be cuts to frontline NHS jobs and services.

Paul Bates, chief executive of NHS Worcestershire, cannot promise there will be no cuts to frontline jobs or services provided by nurses, doctors and carers – despite Government orders that there will be no ‘slash and burn’ cuts in the NHS during the recession.

Mr Bates has yet to put on record where he believes the bulk of the cuts would be made, although the organisation is investigating reducing outpatient attendances and the costs of prescribing medication, an area where NHS Worcestershire has spent “considerably more” than other primary care trusts.

NHS Worcestershire holds the purse strings for all the main healthcare services in Worcestershire, from GPs and dentists to acute hospitals such as Worcestershire Royal Hospital in Worcester and community hospitals such as the one now being built in Malvern.

Mr Bates, who has already said “hundreds of jobs” could go in Worcestershire, addressed a meeting of NHS Worcestershire.

He said: “The pain of recession has already been felt in the private sector but we will be taking some of the pain in future years. The reality is that there will be reductions in public service expenditure.

“That’s going to place us in an extraordinarily difficult position for not just a year or two or three years, but possibly for the next five years.

“We have been told there should be no slash and burn.

“The view of both Labour and the Conservatives is that they don’t expect cuts in frontline services. We would love that to be our position. We don’t believe it will be so.”

NHS Worcestershire is predicting a £60 million gap between its income and expenditure by 2013/14.

Dr Bryan Smith, NHS Worcestershire chairman, said cash was not increasing in line with anticipated demand for services.

The organisation claims the demand will come from a 13 per cent increase in the population of over 65s in the next five years, leading to a rise in the cost of continuing care, the expense of meeting the physical or mental health needs that have arisen as a result of disability, an accident or illness.

Mr Bates compared the cost of continuing care to a train that was accelerating far more quickly than expected down the tracks.

Mr Bates also said he expected to see patients fight the organisation over some of the more difficult choices it has to make in future.

He added: “Patient bodies and representative groups will fight their corner. If we say we can’t invest in this, they will fight us.”

The Government has stipulated that local NHS trusts need to improve “quality, innovation, productivity, prevention, partnership and prioritisation” with the view that quality can continue to improve while costs are reduced.

Peter Pinfield, a non-executive director, said health leaders needed to stand “side by side” with clinical workers before any decisions about cuts to jobs or services were made.

l Your Worcester News was the only member of the media to attend the meeting.