Up to 500 non-clinical jobs to go at Cambridge hospitals

A hospital trust will lose up to 500 non-clinical jobs after it was asked to reduce the size of its workforce.

Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (CUH) has been asked to cut the cost of its support functions “to April 2022 levels”, a spokesperson said.

This means a reduction of around 500 posts in non-clinical areas, such as admin and clerical roles.

CUH currently employs about 13,000 staff and the loss of 500 roles is the equivalent of about four per cent of its workforce. It has grown its workforce by 1,500 whole-time equivalents in the past 24 months, across clinical and non-clinical roles.

A spokesperson for the trust, which runs Addenbrooke’s and The Rosie, said: “Like all NHS trusts, we have been asked to reduce the cost of our support functions this year to April 2022 levels.

“We will be taking all possible steps to minimise redundancies, through natural turnover by not recruiting to posts when staff leave, holding vacancies empty and a mutually agreed resignation scheme. These steps will help reduce the number of redundancies required from 500 staff in support services to closer to 200.

“We have invested in additional staff over the past three years, and our focus on productivity and efficiency means we delivered more than £53m of savings in the last financial year.

“Taking these difficult but necessary decisions now will help us manage our budget in the coming year and in the long term, while continuing to meet the needs of our patients now and in the future.”

A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said: “Our reforms are cutting bureaucracy to make sure that every penny is improving front-line care for patients.

“It is only by getting the NHS running more efficiently that we will deliver on our Plan for Change and cut waiting times for treatment.”