Five hundred jobs at risk as hospital tries to save £49m

SOME 500 jobs are at risk at Cornwall's main hospital, where bosses say they need to make the largest saving they have ever made in a single year.

- by MAXINE DENTON

The admission was made as the chief executive of the Royal Cornwall Hospitals NHS Trust (RCHT), Steve Williamson, announced it had to save £49 million in the next 12 months.

He said this would equate to an overall workforce reduction of about 500 full-time equivalent positions, which would largely be achieved through natural wastage, vacancy controls and reducing reliance on more expensive agency staff.

Mr Williamson said in a statement that the savings were necessary because the NHS needed to close a national funding gap of more than £6 billion.

"Like other NHS trusts we are planning for a challenging year as we work to improve quality and safety and to transform our services", he said.