ONCE again, the Government is trying to blame local health trusts for budget deficits which they say have occurred due to poor financial management in spite of increased funding.

It is time that instead of blaming our local South Worcestershire Primary Care Trust for deficits and possible health care cuts, local people started to defend local health chiefs against the impossible position the Department of Health puts them in.

How can they run their budget effectively when they are constantly bombarded with new initiatives and new targets, which are made mandatory mid-way through a year, with no extra funding to pay for them?

The new GP contract has meant a massive rise in costs, as have the new out-of-hours arrangements. Neither was properly costed at the time, and even the Government has been surprised at their impact.

The Government-imposed contract with the treatment centre at Kidderminster means the PCT has to pay a fixed cost every month, whether patients go there or not. The formula which decides how much money each PCT receives produces grossly unfair results in South Worcestershire. If they were to receive the same capitation amount as North Lincolnshire, a not totally dissimilar area, there would be a budget increase of £25m, which would not only cancel the £4m deficit, but give us enough funds for the Health Service local people deserve.

Where people can play a constructive part is to encourage the SWPCT not to resort immediately to frontline cuts that will dramatically reduce some services - like the present proposed cuts at Evesham hospital - but to work more like any other business would and see whether by a combination of reorganisation to produce 'smarter' services, along with natural wastage, the required savings can be made without reducing patient care.

COUN JUDY PEARCE,

Executive Board Member for Housing and Health

Wychavon District Council.