NHS told to avoid mass job cuts

A poll suggests half of finance directors are planning workforce cuts

Mass redundancies in the NHS should be avoided - despite the need to make cuts because of the expected spending squeeze, bosses say.

NHS Employers, which represents senior managers, urged its members to look at other ways of saving money such as targeting productivity and pay.

Unions welcomed the move amid growing signs that trusts are planning to make big cuts to the 1.4m UK workforce.

The health service is likely to have to make £20bn of cuts from 2011 to 2014.

It will see its budget rise until then, but health chiefs have already started to look at ways of saving money.

Last week, the Health Service Journal, a magazine for NHS managers, carried out a survey which showed that half of finance directors were planning workforce cuts.

NHS leaders must explore every alternative before making redundancies to ensure the NHS remains in good health as the economy improves Sian Thomas, of NHS Employers

And a fifth said they had already introduced recruitment freezes.

But with managers gathered at the NHS Employers' annual conference, the organisation's director Sian Thomas said trusts should tread carefully.

"The challenge for NHS leaders is to resist redundancies on a large scale and to make the most of natural turnover, eliminate waste and duplication and increase productivity."

She said the NHS should heed the lessons of past cuts. During the deficit problems of a few years ago, the cutting of nurse training posts led to a shortfall in qualified staff and an increase in international recruitment.

Ms Thomas added: "NHS leaders must explore every alternative before making redundancies to ensure the NHS remains in good health as the economy improves.

'Some cuts unavoidable'

"It needs to retain a skilled workforce to ensure that quality patient care does not suffer as we overcome the consequences of signficantly reduced funding."

She said a certain level of staff cuts would be unavoidable, but added it should be much lower than some estimates.

One report recently suggested as many as one in 10 posts may have to go.

Instead, Ms Thomas said pay restraint and increased productivity would be important as well as looking a different ways of working, such as shorter weeks as has happened in some parts of the private sector.

A Unison spokeswoman said the call was "extremely welcome".

"We are worried about excess cuts. It is often too easy when there are other ways of making savings such as targeting efficiency."

'Use staff better'

A Department of Health spokeswoman said the government agreed with the suggestions.

"We do not believe that the right way to improve the NHS now, or in the future, is by blanket cuts to the workforce.

"We need to utilise our staff more effectively and help them use innovation and new technology, to drive up the quality of care and deliver value for money."

Innovation was also a theme pushed by the National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts (Nesta).

The lobby group believes focus on long-term conditions, such as obesity, cardiovascular disease and diabetes, could go a long way to saving money.

It cited projects such as personalised telephone services to help people manage their conditions and stop them becoming severely ill and ending up needing expensive treatment.

Nesta chief executive Jonathan Kestenbaum said: "The NHS does not have to choose between saving money and saving lives or between cutting costs and reforming itself."