NHS job losses 'run into thousands'

Last updated at 15:41 10 May 2006


Job losses in the NHS have risen over 11,500 in recent months with the prospect of 'far bigger' cuts to come, a pressure group has claimed.

Health Emergency said a series of cutbacks had caused "misery and uncertainty" across the service, with devastating consequences for staff morale.

The group claimed that NHS Trusts facing the biggest financial deficits were yet to announce job losses, while cuts in Primary Care Trust budgets for this year, particularly in London, were yet to filter through.

Geoff Martin from Health Emergency said: "The Government have sat on their hands while the morale of health staff has been ripped to shreds by this growing tide of panic cuts in jobs and services right across the country.

"Many trusts have no idea what their income and expenditure position is for this current year and, as a result, a lot of them are heading for meltdown by the autumn.

"This is a scandal cooked up in Whitehall and served up at your local NHS hospital."

Among the job cuts announced since February were 800 at four hospitals in the North West, 200 in Swindon, 650 in east London, 450 in Norfolk, 500 in Hertfordshire, 200 in York, 720 in Worcester, 400 in Surrey and Sussex, 200 in Plymouth and 300 in Wolverhampton.

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