Hospital trust set to axe 170 beds and 480 jobs » Health » 24dash.com

A hospital trust is to axe up to 170 beds and 480 posts to save £24 million, it confirmed today.

The Epsom and St Helier University Hospitals NHS Trust in Surrey said it had to save millions of pounds over the next 18 months.

A spokeswoman for the trust said it was reducing the amount of time patients spent in hospital, which means that it needs fewer beds.

It has already cut 43 beds and plans to axe up to another 170.

The spokeswoman said that individuals had not been identified for job losses at the moment, but that up to 480 posts would go.

Geoff Martin, Head of Campaigns at pressure group Health Emergency, said:

"This latest wave of NHS job cuts at Epsom and St Helier will hit nurses, cleaners and medical secretaries and will leave no part of the health care team unscathed.

"This is a scandalous attempt to make hard-working, front-line hospital staff pay the price for mismanagement and political interference at the highest level.

"These cuts have been drawn up by external management consultants KPMG, who have charged the NHS trust a small fortune to identify a hit-list of staff and services targeted for the axe.

"The cuts in beds and jobs on the scale now being bulldozed through will hammer front line services over the coming winter months."

Kevin O'Brien, Unison branch secretary at Epsom and St Helier, added: "Staff are furious that their futures have been put on the line in order to bail out a financial crisis that is not of their making.

"We will be fighting these cuts and we are calling a massive demonstration on the morning of Saturday November 25th to show the anger both of staff and the public at this assault on their local hospital services."

Copyright Press Association 2006