'Cloak and dagger' tactics used for hospital cuts

Cuts to "non-frontline clinical" posts are planned at hospitals in Southend-on-Sea, Basildon and Chelmsford, Unison says

Hospital leaders have been accused of using "cloak and dagger" tactics to make 150 members of staff redundant.

Unison says the Mid and South Essex NHS Trust plan to cut "non-frontline clinical" posts across its hospitals in Southend-on-Sea, Basildon and Chelmsford.

The Save Southend NHS campaign group criticised the "secrecy" of senior management at the trust.

The hospital trust said the voluntary redundancy scheme would help to redesign its teams and use resources more efficiently.

However, the Save Southend NHS campaigners said there had been a "complete lack of transparency" about the plan.

"Cloak and dagger operations are ongoing, with staff kept in the dark who are met with inadequate responses from senior management," they said.

In April, it was revealed that 600 “wholetime equivalent posts” at the trust would be slashed and only vacancies where there was an “immediate urgency” would be filled.

'Purely voluntary'

Unison claimed hospital leaders were unable to confirm how the alleged 150 job losses related to this announcement.

The trust has struggled with staff shortages and predicted a £102m deficit - added to by a reliance on agency staff.

“This scheme will offer us an opportunity to redesign teams and is part of our work to right-size our workforce," a spokesman said.

"[It will use] our resources efficiently and make sure we have the right people in the right roles. This is purely a voluntary scheme.”