Jobs Cut Fears At Essex Cottage Hospitals

A shake-up of staffing at community hospitals in Maldon and Braintree is being considered by cash-strapped health chiefs – but they deny it will mean redundancies.

Fears have been raised that nurses at St Peter’s Hospital in Maldon could be facing redundancies and the dream of a new community hospital for the town may be evaporating.

The warning about job cuts among ward sisters, staff nurses, auxiliary nurses and health care support workers at the hospital was given in a letter sent to the Essex Chronicle from an anonymous source.

St Peter’s is run by Mid Essex Primary Care Trust which is seeking to make savings of £18.6 million in 2007/8.

The anonymous source said: “Sadly, the PCT has been unable to balance the books and now ward staff at St Peter’s Hospital have been issued with letters advising them of the process for reducing staff levels by making qualified nurses redundant.

“The process is to be completed by the end of October this year.

“The staff are already stretched just to maintain a decent level of care. These cuts will take the unit at St Peter’s to breaking point. This is conceived by many as a first step to closure of the Maldon hospital.”

But the PCT said that redundancies are not being planned at this stage.

John Niland, project director of provider services for the PCT said: “We are about to begin a consultation with staff to establish the appropriate skill mix across our three community hospitals, St Peter’s, William Julien Courtauld and Halstead.

“This may mean that we will have to ask some staff to move across the patch from one hospital to another.

“We have no plans at this stage to make anyone redundant.”