More jobs go with health cuts

Health Minister Andy Burnham has announced a fresh round of NHS redundancies, reports The Times. The number of Primary Care Trusts (PCT) is to be cut by half and major changes made to health helpline NHS Direct.

The 303 PCTs in England are to me merged into 152, to save £250 million a year, but redundancy costs in the first year have been estimated at £320 million.

Mr Burnham also announced that the 29 ambulance trusts would be merged into 12, starting in July.

He said: "Changes of this kind are inevitably difficult. We have not sought to impose a single blueprint on the NHS but have listened carefully to representations."

Stephen O’Brien, the Conservative health spokesman, branded the moves "change for change’s sake" and warned ministers about the effect on staff morale.

NHS Direct faces the closure of 12 call centres and the loss of hundreds of jobs. The telephone helpline provides a 24-hour advice service to patients across England, but needs to find savings to repay a £15 million deficit (not even one day's worth of our contribution to the EU's audit-failing budget). Smaller NHS Direct centres in Doncaster, York, Cambridge, Scunthorpe, Chester, Bolton, Preston, Chorley, Southport, Croydon, Brighton and Kensington are to close.

Karen Jennings, the head of health at Unison, called the job losses a "crushing blow".

She said, "These cuts are very short-sighted. NHS Direct takes up to 25,000 calls a day and cutting the service will put immediate pressure on GP surgeries and A&E departments, particularly at night, weekends and Bank Holidays."