A public sector union has fired a further warning shot over the Isle of Wight NHS Trust’s ‘workforce reduction’ plans at St Mary’s Hospital.
UNISON said the trust’s intentions centre around a “planned recruitment freeze” – something it added “could affect the ability of nurses, doctors and other health professionals to do their jobs”.
Last week it was revealed that around 10% of whole-time equivalent (WTE) jobs within the trust are at-risk as part of ‘cost improvement plans’, amid NHS reforms put forward by Whitehall.
Last week, Isle of Wight West MP Richard Quigley (Labour) said “no front-line roles” will be cut at St Mary’s after meeting with unions and the trust last week.
He said:
“I spoke to Unison and the trust last week, no job losses are confirmed.
“Should any be made, it will be in back-office functions, removing duplication.”
‘Workforce reduction’ is a ‘key aspect’ of the health service provider’s operating plan for 2025/26, according to its March board papers.
The trust previously said that while it understands ‘these decisions are difficult’, it needs to ‘go further’ than it did last year to ‘achieve the significant financial savings required of us’.
James Smith, UNISON south east regional organiser, said:
“The unions and senior managers met this week to discuss the trust’s intentions. These centre around a planned recruitment freeze, which is part of the trust’s overall plans to save money.
“It’s hard to imagine a world where squeezing recruitment doesn’t have an impact on patient care in some way.
“Whether it’s front-line staff or the workers supporting them, a pause on hiring could affect the ability of nurses, doctors and other health professionals to do their jobs. The NHS needs real investment in staff, not a cut in the number of roles.”
Nonsense, it is well know the islands NHS
is over employed, they could easily get rid of 20%
of the clutter, life goes on, they won’t be missed.
Get rid of the right ones though, not the genuine ones.
that’s the point they won’t “get rid of the right ones”
They need to get a neutral team from the
mainland over to make sure the right ones
go and not the wrong ones.
Quigley, like the so called PM and his cronies no brainer rayner and reeves thieves are a bunch of liars and don’t know anything about anything much, well except how to cover up what they are doing “Didn’t cross my desk!” What about the ferry fiasco then quigley, gone quiet on that haven’t you.
I thought the island only had 1 MP
you never hear anything from Quigley
he must be a silent MP
It is no surprise the unions would object, less staff, less union dues and the 6 figure salaries of the union executive under threat. Unions ony protect themselves.
I went along to St Mary’s today and was
shocked to see the amount of personnel
standing around doing nothing.
From what I witnessed today, you could
decrease the work force by at least 30%
“THEY WON’T BE MISSED”
That is the problem with any Government organisation
plenty of money being wasted on unnesseccary
staff, this would never happen in a private run
company.
The council is the same, easy money
all funded by “US” tax payers.