Up to 350 jobs could go at NHS trust papers show

Up to 350 jobs could go at a NHS trust as part of £9.9m worth of savings, board papers have shown.

North West Anglia NHS Foundation Trust said it had proposed to implement a Mutually Agreed Resignation Scheme (MARS) "to support workforce and pay cut reductions".

The trust has hospital's across Cambridgeshire and Lincolnshire, including Peterborough City Hospital, Hinchingbrooke Hospital and Stamford and Rutland Hospital.

Its chief executive Hannah Coffey said: "In keeping with many other NHS trusts, our board has taken the decision to run this voluntary scheme which offers severance payments for staff who can make a personal choice to resign."

The trust formed in April 2017, with its three hospitals serving about 850,000 residents. Its website said it was made up of about 8,000 members of staff.

First reported by Cambs News, the proposal to implement the MARS scheme was mentioned in a report to the trust's board by Coffey.

Papers said medical and dental staff were exempt from applying to the scheme which opened on 11 May and would run until 31 May.

"This difficult but necessary step has been taken to ensure we can meet the expectations set out in the NHS 10 Year Plan and by our commissioners," Coffey said.

She said the trust would need to "reshape" how it worked and its workforce structure to "continue to provide safe, high-quality care in a way that is both affordable and sustainable for the future".

"Throughout this process, we will ensure that patient safety remains our absolute priority and that our staff are well communicated with and supported appropriately."

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