750 jobs to be cut at Rotherham NHS FT

A South Yorkshire foundation trust is to cut 750 jobs by 2015 to save £50m and meet government targets, it has been announced.

Rotherham NHS Foundation Trust plans to cut around 20% of its workforce, and acknowledges that compulsory redundancies will be “inevitable”.

In a report presented to the board, the chief executive of Rotherham NHS Foundation Trust, Brian James, said that “radical change” was necessary to achieve £50m savings over the next four years, and that it would in the future have “substantially fewer beds”.

The trust’s current operating budget is £220m, £150 of which is spent on staff.

James said: “The NHS continues to face tough times financially. Our staff are our biggest asset, but also our biggest cost and we are exploring how to best manage and substantially reduce our costs whilst ensuring we continue to provide quality healthcare.”

Unison regional organiser Sue Cookman said: “Nothing’s new about the savings. To talk about culling 750 jobs seems to be highly irresponsible and will have a massive impact on patient care.

“I think the patients and staff are already feeling the strain, feeling there aren't enough nurses, feeling that things are taking too long.”

A spokesperson for the BMA said: “It is difficult to conceive of a way in which you can make staff cuts of this magnitude without a reduction in the quality of patient care.”

A spokesman for the DH added: “Hospitals should be looking at ways to be more efficient but that doesn’t mean lowering the quality of care, it means getting the best services to meet patients’ needs and the best value for every pound the NHS spends.”

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