Job cuts planned at hospital (From News Shopper)

Job cuts planned at hospital

10:17am Tuesday 13th February 2007 in Health News

HOSPITAL bosses are to reveal redundancies and a ward closure as part of another cash-saving plan.

Members of Greenwich Council's healthier communities and older people's scrutiny panel will hear details of the £8.5m savings plan for Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Woolwich, at a meeting on Thursday night.

Hospital bosses will tell the committee of 12 councillors the raft of measures they have devised.

They will help the hospital balance its books by the end of the next financial year in March 2008.

Under the cost-cutting scheme, 10 nursing posts will not be re-filled and as many as 10 nurses could be made redundant.

Some nurses will also take on the work of administrators as a freeze is placed on clerical roles, saving an estimated £130,000.

Ward 15a, which provides 20 beds for general medical patients, will close.

And a freeze will be placed on recruiting staff in neurology and genitourinary medicine.

A total of £187,000 will be saved by reducing telephone bills and money spent on computer equipment.

But the hospital has promised to consult with all staff who are likely to face redundancies and changes to the way they currently work.

The public meeting, starting at 6pm, will be held at the town hall in Wellington Street, Woolwich.