Key Camden mental health workers axed in £5m ‘efficiencies’

HUNDREDS of staff working in crucial mental health posts in medical centres and home visit services across Camden were sacked over the Easter holiday.

A memo written by the boss of Camden and Islington’s NHS Foundation Trust, leaked to the New Journal, has revealed drastic measures aiming to save £100,000 a week – or £5 million a year – by axing temporary and agency staff.

Staff were given one week’s notice last Tuesday, prompting a massive backlash from full-time staff who say they cannot cope without them.

One trust insider, who did not want to be named, said: “Agency staff hold a variety of professions within the trust, including social work, psychiatric nurses and administration. With such erratic lay-offs these positions will not be replaced and a deficit in care is sure to follow. With one week’s notice, the affected staff are not provided sufficient time to prepare for their departure and find work for the future.”

The source added: “Remaining staff must absorb these positions into their full time case-loads, [which will] surely see an increase in stress and burnout, and a decline in care. This begs the question: if this is how employees are treated, what hope is left for the service-users?”

In a note to Foundation Trust directors dated March 22, chief executive Wendy Wallace said that as of Tuesday a series of “efficiencies” were required “if we are to remain financially viable”.

The measures include:

• All independent management consultants to be given their notice.
• An immediate jobs freeze for all administrative, clinical and managerial posts.
• All temp staff who have worked for less than 12 months to be given their notice.
• No agency or bank staff to be used across the trust [excluding medical locums].

Ms Wallace, who earns £130,000 a year, warned directors that constant reviews would be carried out on spending, adding: “With our current spend on temporary staff at £100,000 per week, we believe that applying these measures successfully will deliver the necessary savings.”

The cuts are being tabled because the Trust’s last cuts package – which closed the Tottenham Mews Walk-In Centre in Fitzrovia and wards in St Luke’s Hospital in Muswell Hall – did not save as much as expected. The trust spends £84 million on staff each year and about £5million on temporary staff.

A spokeswoman for the trust said temporary staffing levels were at their highest level for years.

Ms Wallace said: “We have a tough financial challenge ahead and are in the process of reviewing all temporary staffing posts to ensure that they are in essential areas only. This staffing measure does not mean that we have entirely stopped using agency or bank staff but it does mean that managers will need to justify their spend on temporary staff in this difficult financial climate.”