According to a report in the latest issue of Health Campaigns Together:

“At a fringe meeting at the Tory Party conference in Manchester last weekend, Health Secretary Sajid Javid insisted that the government must stop “throwing cash” at the NHS, and that “there have to be . . . some significant reforms that make that money go a lot further.” This, after eleven brutal years of real terms cuts in NHS spending!

“He followed up with a conference speech echoing Thatcher’s infamous statement that “there is no such thing as society” – arguing that people need to take responsibility for caring for their elderly relatives and “stop looking to the state to provide”. People need to ask “what I can do to help my own family?” before calling on government provision, he said.”

Meanwhile, NHS bosses in Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland plan to reorganise local hospital services on the basis that care in the community will make up for a very significant shortfall in the number of hospital beds.

We would be very interested in any comments from University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust in relation to Javid’s remarks.

Do they too expect cash-strapped families, already stretched to breaking point due to cuts to already limited services, to further compensate for a government that simply doesn’t care?