Less beds in the NHS

Nearly 30,000 hospital beds in England should be axed to save money and improve care, a think tank says.This would mean London, the north east and north west removing about a quarter of their beds.

Dr Mark Porter, chairman of the BMA's consultants committee said "Cutting beds for purely financial reasons would be immoral and catastrophic for patient care."

Ever since its inception the history of the NHS has been a story of trying to provide adequate funding. Every government has looked for ways to find the money and cut the costs, and every government has failed. The original set-up has been modified, tinkered with or altered repeatedly, all, we are told in the interests of efficiency. And every government produces a fresh plan with a fanfare of trumpets that promises to solve all problems.