City hospitals to cut 430 jobs to tackle £97m cash shortfall

FINANCE, IT, HR, ADMIN AND ESTATES AMONG THE AREAS TARGETED IN BID TO BALANCE THE BOOKS

- By JOEL MOORE

MORE than 400 jobs will be cut at Nottingham hospitals as bosses try and close a £97 million financial black hole.

Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust (NUH), which runs the Queen's Medical Centre and City Hospital, said it had to make “difficult decisions” as it seeks to balance the books after years of spending more than it can afford.

The trust cited urgent and emergency care, an increase in staff and an ageing estate, for which it has a £500 million repairs backlog, as some of the main reasons for the huge deficit.

In April last year, the Post revealed that NUH had agreed with NHS England to reduce its costs after the national healthcare body said a forecast shortfall of £69 million could mean the trust was breaching the terms of its licence.

The trust, which has a yearly budget of £1.8 billion, said it had saved a record £91 million in the last financial year but needed to save a further £97 million by the end of 2025/26.