NHS Trust blames EU regulations for cut-backs

Shrewsbury & Telford Hospital NHS Trust are currently consulting on changes to the services they provide at the two hospitals. Services are going to have to be cut back and there's even the possibility that both hospitals will have to be closed and replaced with a single hospital.

Along with the usual reason of never having enough money, the booklet they've produced lays the a large portion of the blame on the EU Working Time Directive and the fact that abolishing our opt-out is going to mean staff shortages and increased wage bills.

It's refreshing to see someone like an NHS Trust going off message and telling people that stupid EU regulations are to blame for bad things that are happening. But what would be really refreshing would be the NHS Trust and other public services such as the fire service who are suffering at the hands of EU regulations to begin actively campaigning against them.

The NHS has a duty to provide a public service and if the EU is stopping them from doing that then they have a duty to oppose it.