Almost 10,000 NHS posts in England, the equivalent of a large teaching hospital, have been earmarked for cuts, the Royal College of Nursing has revealed. The figure contradicts the assertion that frontline services will be protected.
In April this year, the RCN revealed that it was aware of more than 5,000 posts being earmarked for cuts. The College warned that targeting frontline services would risk “sending the health service back to the days of hospital trolleys in corridors and year long waits.” Now the RCN claims that the number of posts under threat has doubled and that 47 NHS jobs a day are reduced or lost through not replacing vacant posts and freezes in recruitment across England. The announcement comes despite Government pledges to protect frontline care as the NHS seeks to make £15 bn to £20 bn of efficiency savings by 2014. Dr Peter Carter, RCN chief executive and general secretary, said: “We are realistic about the need to find financial savings in the NHS but our figures expose the myth that frontline services will be protected as NHS bodies begin their drive to create huge efficiencies. We believe the Government when they say they want to protect NHS care. “However, local NHS organisations appear to be adopting a slash and burn approach to jobs which is shocking and will have a disastrous effect not only on the quality of care provided and also on the range of treatments that are available… Frontline staff know where the efficiencies can be made and Trusts should therefore engage with staff to ensure better care. We implore Trusts to consider the impact on patient care of these post closures – we have found little evidence of this consideration during our work.”
