Job cuts key to plan to save cash

7:00pm Tuesday 11th July 2006

ABOUT 300 jobs are to be scrapped in East Lancashire's hospitals as part an NHS cash savings drive.

The posts will be made obsolete as beds are axed on wards and new working practices are introduced at Blackburn's new super-hospital, which brings all services under one roof.

As job roles are no longer needed staff will be moved into empty posts and NHS bosses have insisted there will be no redundancies at this stage.

But the trust has still warned redundancies will have to be made unless it saves an unprecedented £11.6 million this year.

Bosses said people's new jobs would closely match their old ones but a union leader raised fears that the process would be "difficult to manage".

And staff would not like competing with their colleagues over new jobs, she said.

Between 100 and 250 staff will be affected by the moves as some of the 300 jobs affected have been left empty.

The trust currently employs just under 7,000 staff.

By April 278 beds more than a fifth of all overnight beds in East Lancashire will have been axed to save £2.5 million, meaning fewer staff will be needed in departments affected.

East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust's deputy chief executive, Gary Graham, said he was confident staff would be happy with their new roles.

And he said there would be no overall reduction in staff at hospitals only people working in different departments.

He said: "If there are some roles that are currently in place which many not be in place in the future then we need to look at what other re-deployment opportunities are available. Other job vacancies are available so we can slot people into those."

Yet he said: "If there are two or three people wanting the same role there will be a selection process."

Mr Graham said computer software would be used to match people's skills to the available roles. He said jobs "may be different in title but very similar in role" although some staff would need to be "flexible".

He said: "Old roles in old ways of working isn't the way forward.

"Our commitment is to avoid compulsory redund-ancy as far as we can. If it works out how we would hope it will mean not a single person will be made redundant."

In a recent newsletter to staff, the trust's union committee said people should be aware that "there cannot be any guarantees" around redundancies.

It said: "This will also mean existing staff having to change roles and be as flexible as possible".

Today Caroline Collins, spokeswoman for the Royal College of Nursing, said: "Nurses are not liking having to be interviewed for these jobs. These are people from teams who work together and are being put head to head with valued colleagues and friends for the same job.

"It is going to be very difficult to maintain motivation and team working where nurses are feeling guilty because they got the job and their colleague didn't.

"Whilst the trust's commitment to keeping people in work is really valued you can't get away from the fact that it is going to be very difficult to manage on a day-to-day basis."

Latest blogs and columns