Jobs to go at hospital

More than 200 posts including frontline staff are to be cut by the trust that runs Newark Hospital.

Sherwood Forest Hospitals Foundation Trust is set to cut 235 jobs, which will mean compulsory redundancies. It is the second stage of a three to four year cost-cutting exercise aimed at saving nearly £50m.

The trust, which runs Newark Hospital and King’s Mill Hospital, Sutton-in-Ashfield, is consulting staff. It is not clear how many jobs will be lost at each site.

A total of 311 full and part-time staff are based at Newark. The figure does not include staff at King’s Mill who travel to Newark.

Bosses confirmed that frontline posts would be at risk, but envisaged at least a third of savings would be in management, which is based at King’s Mill.

They say the cuts should save £14m this financial year.

They insist services at Newark Hospital will be maintained despite the cuts and patient care will not suffer.

Trust chairman Tracy Doucet said: “We have a commitment to a long-term hospital at Newark and to looking at the long-term needs of Newark residents.

“I think Newark is better placed for future healthcare needs than some big hospitals because it provides community services.

“GPs and the clinical commissioning group are committed to Newark.”

Interim chief executive, Dr Mark Goldman, appointed only two weeks ago, said the cuts were needed because the new care commissioning system meant more services would be provided by GPs and funding to the trust was being reduced by about 10%.

Around 70% of its budget is spent on its 3,000 staff.

Dr Goldman said: “We will look at the whole organisation. A lot of the costs will come out of non-frontline staff but we can’t not look at frontline posts because they are delivering some services that we will no longer be providing under the new system.

“All the things we are doing will be tested for consequences to patients before we do it and we won’t go forward with anything that won’t maintain or improve the quality of care.”

The pair met staff at Newark Hospital last week. Dr Goldman said there was some “understandable nervousness.”

“We have had two staff briefings and we have talked to management and frontline staff,” he said.

“I would say they understand why this is happening but feel uncomfortable about what the consequences might be. There is some understandable nervousness.”

The cuts are on top of 420 job losses last year. That included 20 compulsory redundancies, and there are likely to be more because the trust is not repeating the mutually-agreed resignation scheme it ran before.

Dr Goldman said as many posts as possible would be shed by not filling existing vacancies, and that staff would be redeployed wherever possible.