Tuesday 17 April 2007

Nurse redundancy figures revealed

Twenty-three hospital nurses were made redundant in the North West in the last six months, reports the BBC.

As well as the nurses, 113 managers, 29 clerical workers, seven therapists and two healthcare scientists also lost their jobs, NHS North West said.

On Monday, the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) claimed about 22,000 UK posts had been lost because of NHS cuts.

Speaking at the RCN's annual conference, Dr Peter Carter, general secretary, said the NHS was having the "life squeezed out of it" by deficit-imposed cuts.

The figures released by NHS North West concern the actual number of people made redundant since October 2006, rather than NHS posts.

The health authority said some redundancies in Greater Manchester were as a result of the move towards more community-based services.

Others were through some hospitals making efficiency savings as part of a drive to become financially stable, it said.

By the end of February 2007, a total of 174 staff out of 203,456 in the NHS in the North West had lost their jobs.

NHS North West covers 66 hospital and primary care trusts in the region.

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