Hospital trust to lose 160 jobs

Medway NHS Trust has announced up to 160 job losses

Up to 160 jobs are to go at a Kent hospital in a move to save £11m in the next financial year.

Medway NHS Trust has confirmed it is shedding 160 posts. Some are already vacant and other jobs will be shed by not replacing staff who leave.

The trust which runs Medway Maritime Hospital, Gillingham, is the latest health organisation to cut jobs.

In past weeks, trusts across England have announced more than 4,000 job cuts as they struggle to balance books.

Last week, Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals Trust said it was axing 325 jobs.

We take our responsibility for staffing seriously and will make every effort to avoid compulsory redundancies Medway NHS Trust

And East Kent Hospitals NHS Trust has said it will have to cut jobs to claw back a predicted £35m deficit for next year.

On Monday, a spokeswoman for Medway NHS Trust said some of the 160 posts were currently not filled because of a recruitment freeze.

She was unable to confirm exactly how many of the posts were currently filled but said further jobs would go by not replacing staff who leave.

She said: "We take our responsibility for staffing seriously and will make every effort to avoid compulsory redundancies."

And she added that plans to create a vascular centre of excellence and make chemotherapy available at Medway would continue.

The trust has set out to cut spending by up to £11m in 2006/07 and claw back a £1m overspend from 2005.