A large acute trust plans to cut more than 700 additional jobs and admits it will miss key performance targets this year due to its “unsustainable” deficit, reports HSJ.
The plan to cut a further 4 per cent of its workforce at Mid and South Essex Foundation Trust follows the provider removing close to 450 posts in 2024-25.
In a planning update to the board, directors said they estimated 743 whole-time equivalent posts would need to be cut to reach a target establishment of 15,980 WTE roles by March 2026.
The report, by chief finance officer Dawn Scrafield and chief operating officer Andrew Pike, said the current proposed deficit was “not sustainable” and around £118m of savings were required this year – a cost improvement target of around 7 per cent.
The trust, which runs Southend, Chelmsford and Basildon hospitals, has set an £85m deficit plan for 2025-26 and remains in the national recovery support programme due to its financial challenges.
The news comes as another East of England trust, North West Anglia Foundation Trust, also set out plans for a significant savings target. The trust’s annual plan revealed its £73.5m savings efforts would involve job cuts for corporate and non-patient-facing clinical staff. HSJ understands around 100 posts could be affected.
MSEFT said it had not decided which type of roles would be cut, but that it was planning a cost-saving restructure of corporate services and “there is still a focus on filling our clinical vacancies to reduce bank staff spend”.
Chief people officer Selina Dundas told HSJ: “We expect the further reduction in WTEs to come through people leaving, retirements and reviewing staffing skill mixes and removing long term vacancies so the trust only spends the allocation it has for staff, nothing more.”
MSEFT had planned to cut 600 posts last year, but board papers reveal it “fell slightly short”, with a reduction of around 450 instead.
Date: 6 May