AS anyone awaiting treatment will know Macclesfield General Hospital has a huge budget deficit.

Despite a massive increase in government funding closure of vital facilities has been mooted.

How we arrived at this lamentable state of affairs is not something East Cheshire Trust management are eager to discuss.

The mass resignation of psychiatric consultants, a three year 'investigation' into the competence of a consultant that ended without any conclusion, the hundreds of thousands paid out in 'gardening leave' to senior executives; none of this is open for discussion.

While visitors were forced to pay parking charges to help ease the hospital's deficit management met in the luxurious splendour of Shrigley Hall Country Club to debate closures.

As understaffed doctors and nurses worked around the clock management paid a top consultant three years' salary to stay at home.

When trust management dictated policy mental health professionals left in frustration.

Taxpayers and patients must now foot the bill of incompetence.

Last week a notice appeared in Macclesfield General offering a salary of £32,247 for collecting 'performance statistics'. Given the £14m overspend claimed by the trust how can such an appointment be justified?

Before we start debating which services should be cut can we hold a discussion on how East Cheshire Trust manage their affairs?

Can we see some justification for the three-year, £350k 'investigation' that had no conclusion or why well respected mental health consultants lost all faith?

Can we hear how £32k a year can be spent on collecting statistics at a time when nurses may face redundancy?

Can we look at the management salaries and ask ourselves how many of them are justified?

When we are satisfied we are getting value for money we can debate cutbacks?

There again, maybe we won't have to?

  • THE views expressed on this page are those of Vic Barlow and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Express.