QA Hospital job cuts: "We were horrified" - protestors take aim at government as hundreds of jobs could be axed
Protestors have gathered outside Queen Alexandra Hospital to express their horror with hundreds of jobs at the hospital facing the axe.
Portsmouth Hospitals University NHS Trust (PHU) has put 549 jobs at risk as it looks to meet financial target set by the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC). In response to the news, union members have today (Thursday, April 17) protested against the government's decision to make cuts.
Jon Wood, chair of Portsmouth Trade Union Council, which arranged the protest, said: “We are horrified at the thought that NHS staff could be losing their jobs, if anything the NHS needs more staff. This a decision from central government and Portsmouth is just one of many trusts that is facing job cuts as a result of political decisions.
“We want to show our opposition and say to central government, ‘come on think again’.”
The jobs that have been earmarked to be cut are not clinical roles, with the DHSC stating they want to “cut bureaucracy and make savings” to “empower frontline staff”.
Jon does not believe cutting jobs will make frontline staff’s jobs any easier. He said: “Just by simply cutting jobs it does not mean that the work goes away. These are people who back up the clinical staff, people who arrange appoints, who arrange recruitment and retention.
“The work force will be under even more pressure and people are already under huge pressure working in the NHS. This is not the way to do, sure things need to change, but you don’t do that by cutting jobs.”
If the cuts do go ahead, Jon argued that this will have an impact on the wider community and economy with more people unemployed. Jon added: “I think the government needs to have a serious thing about what it is doing.
“They seem to be able to find billions of pounds at the drop of a hat for defence spending but they cannot seem to find money for decent welfare. They have got their priorities wrong and a lot of us expected better from a Labour government.”
A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said: “We are reforming the NHS to cut bureaucracy and make savings so we can focus on empowering frontline staff to deliver better care for patients, while getting value for taxpayers’ money.
“We are investing an extra £26 billion in health and care, and have already made progress on our mission to cut waiting lists – delivering an extra 3 million appointments in six months and cutting the waiting list by 219,000 since July.”
As well as the potential job losses at PHU, there could be a further 249 job losses at the Isle of Wight NHS Trust.
A spokesperson for the trusts said they had a “responsibility to live within our means” and meet the financial saving challenges that they have been set.
They went on to add that they “understand these decisions may be difficult” but they are “necessary” in helping to meet “the changing needs of our patients in a more resilient and flexible way”.