Trust faces 250 hospital job cuts

The trust runs the Eastbourne District General Hospital

Up to 250 jobs could be axed by an NHS trust which runs two hospitals in East Sussex in a bid to cut workforce costs.

The East Sussex NHS Hospitals Trust said it hoped the changes would be achieved through natural wastage but redundancies had not been ruled out.

The trust, which runs the Conquest Hospital in Hastings and Eastbourne District General, has a £5m deficit.

It said posts essential to maintaining safe and effective patient care would continue to be filled.

'Substantial savings'

In a statement, the trust said it employed about 5,100 people and there were about 500 vacancies in an average year through natural staff movements and retirement.

"If the measures being put in place are successful, the trust management do not anticipate redundancies but will keep this under review," it said.

The trust also provides services at Bexhill Hospital, Crowborough Birthing Unit and Rye Memorial Care Centre.

It managed to break even during the last financial year, and said it had made "substantial savings" through restricting the use of agency staff, holding vacancies open and "good housekeeping".

'Committed staff'

Kim Hodgson, chief executive of the trust, said it recognised that it was difficult news for staff, particularly when finances had been successfully managed over the past year.

"We are concerned to minimise the effect on our committed, permanent staff who provide such an excellent service and we fully expect to make these savings without redundancies.

"We also recognise that the measures we plan to take will add to the pressures on us all, but this is preferable to large scale redundancies," she said.

The Conservative MP for Eastbourne, Nigel Waterson, said the announcement of job cuts so early in the financial year was of deep concern to him.

"I remain convinced that the underlying problem at the trust is underfunding, with inadequate provision in the calculation of funding levels given the high proportion of elderly people in our area," he said.