1,600 jobs to go at Heart of England NHS
Trade unions have slammed National Health Service (NHS) managers after it was announced that up to 1,600 jobs were set to be axed across the West Midlands. The chief executive of the Heart of England NHS Trust called the cuts “manageable”, to which trade union Unison said was “bogus, dangerous and disingenuous to the public”.
The Heart of England NHS Trust covers East Birmingham, Solihull and south Staffordshire.
The job cuts were announced as part of the government’s £20m budget slash across the UK’s NHS services.
Jobs of front-line medical and nursing staff would be protected, said the NHS.
Chief executive Mark Newbold said that the NHS was “used to losing” between 3 per cent and 5 per cent of its staff per year.
However, Unison bosses said that they were “outraged” by the mass job cuts.
Franco Buonaguro, Unison West Midlands’ head of health, said that the cuts would “jeopardise public health and the safety of our communities”.
