Closed petition Save 50,000 Front-line Jobs currently under threat in NHS

Closed on 23 November 2012

50,000 front line jobs are under threat as the NHS is struggling to make savings.

The total highlighted is the equivalent of shutting four large hospital trusts.

It includes all types of front line staff eg porters to doctors and nurses.

In total, nearly half of the posts under threat were clinical and the scale of the cutbacks represented nearly a tenth of the workforce on average.

UNISON & RCN said the findings were proof that the savings the NHS has to make - £20bn over the next four years - could not simply be achieved through efficiency.

Shadow Health Secretary Andy Burnham said "Nurses are being handed their P45s and patients are being told they have to wait longer".
Evidence was also uncovered of job cuts being made elsewhere in the UK.

The scale of the cuts could have a "deep and potentially dangerous impact on patient care".

"Staffing levels should be based on rigorous clinical evidence and not be lowered in a short-sighted effort to save money."