HEE staff cuts threaten medical education and patient care, BMA and unions warn

Plans to cut staff at Health Education England could damage the care of patients and affect the number of doctors in training, trade unions have warned. On 23 February HEE, which is responsible for medical education and training in England, wrote to all its 2614 staff announcing a scheme to allow them to take voluntary redundancy to save money. In 2014 the Department of Health for England announced that it was cutting HEE’s budget, which ran to £4.9bn (€5.8bn; $6.1bn) in 2015-16,1 by 20% by 2020.2 The move was a result of a 20% cut to the department’s own budget and is on top of the …