Trust to axe 400 jobs in £14m savings bid

The job cuts at Dudley Group of Hospitals FT are part of a plan to get rid of 400 posts to reduce costs by £14m.

By the end of the 2014-15 financial year the trust removed a total of 259 posts, it has confirmed. Two hundred resulted from permanently removing vacant posts from the trust’s established budget.

There were 33 voluntary redundancies last year and 26 posts were earmarked for compulsory redundancy. Of those 26, eight were made compulsorily redundant and left the trust on 31 March. Another five people have been redeployed to new roles and the trust is seeking to do the same for the remaining 13 staff.

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The trust said its 4 per cent efficiency savings target meant it had to save £12m a year. It also has cost pressures from national standards for nurse staffing levels, emergency demand and seven day services.

Dudley Group had forecast a deficit of £6.7m for 2014-15 on its operating position, and a deficit of £8.4m in its bottom line position when additional redundancy costs were accounted for.

In a statement, the trust said: “The Dudley Group is entering into a two phased redundancy plan to reduce 400 posts over the next two years across the organisation to save £14m on its pay costs to help it achieve financial stability.

“In the first instance we are seeking voluntary redundancies. Depending on the savings made during the voluntary process, we will then seek further compulsory redundancies.”

The trust said the reductions would be made in non-clinical staff “to keep services safe for our patients”.

It added: “Ward based and community nursing, and midwifery posts bands 2, 5 and 6 are not included in the process to remove posts.

“Our medical workforce is subject to a separate review looking at productivity and future planning.”

Paula Clark, chief executive of the Dudley Group said: “As vacancies arise, we are proactively matching the skills required for the post with those of staff on the redeployment register, and will continue to do this until their notice period expires.

“We have also permanently removed 200 posts out of the funded budget by actively reviewing vacancies all year as they arose. All these measures have allowed us to make the necessary £7.5m savings whilst safeguarding as many jobs as possible.”