Jobs are at risk at Rotherham Hospital

Rotherham NHS Foundation Trust is looking to cut the equivalent of 30 full-time staff and has warned 77 employees they are at risk of compulsory redundancy.

The jobs will be cut from all departments, including nursing and clinical staff.

A further 100 posts, which are either vacant or filled by temporary staff, will be cut by 1st April.

Bosses said the number of jobs at risk might be reduced if they get enough applications for voluntary redundancy - but warned ‘voluntary redundancy alone’ would not deliver the required savings and some compulsory redundancies would be needed.

Hospital managers, who have to save £14 million in the next financial year, claim the changes will protect frontline services.

Hospital chief executive Brian James said: “The NHS continues to face tough times financially and we need to identify ways to continue to improve our services for patients whilst being even more efficient.”

“We have been exploring how to best manage our costs to minimise the impact of any funding reductions on our patients and front line services.”

“Some 77 staff have been put at risk although we only propose 30 redundancies.”

The at risk staff are going through a 30-day consultation period, which began on 2nd March.

Mr James added: “We are working closely with unions and appropriate staff representatives to manage the process in an open and transparent manner and work with affected staff in the most sensitive way we can.”

“Clearly this is an anxious time for the staff concerned and a testing time for all of us at the trust - making people redundant is an unhappy responsibility and we have not made this proposal lightly.”

A trust spokesman said: “We would always make every effort to safeguard jobs and protect our staff, but we believe the changes we are proposing will ensure we protect the services we provide our patients in these challenging times.”