NHS spending squeeze will hurt key hospital services

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Hospital waiting times will grow and patients' access to treatments will be limited because of the squeeze on health spending, more than half of NHS chief executives and chairmen believe.

The warning from the heads of nearly 250 health providers comes as the NHS sets out to save £20bn from its budget over four years. Andrew Lansley admitted yesterday that the NHS would have to find £4bn of savings next year because of the increased demands on the service.

"We are taking steps to cut the costs of administration and focus resources on the front line," he said.

But in the first survey of NHS organisations since the Government's efficiency drive was implemented, managers said reducing administration costs alone would not be enough and that tough decisions on cutting and merging services would have to be made.

One in five said they believed the quality of care their institutions offer will decrease over the next 12 months while almost a third thought care would get worse over the next three years.

Nearly 50 per cent said the financial situation facing their organisation was "the worst they had ever experienced", while an additional 47 per cent said it was "very serious".

The head of the organisation representing NHS employers warned that unless hospital managers were able to merge or cut under-utilised services the effects on patient care would be even greater. "We have to get politicians to understand and support the case for reconfiguring hospital services," said Mike Farrar, the new chief executive of the NHS Confederation.