Anger as plans for huge cuts at hospital ‘leaked’
HOSPITAL bosses have had their transparency questioned after a ‘leak’ revealed huge cuts at cash strapped Stepping Hill – including a ward shutting the next day.
In a bid to tackle a £40m budget deficit 350 ‘full time equivalent’ jobs will go at the hospital, and surgical ward B3 shut on Friday.
The news was broken by Stockport’s Lib Dems and despite criticism party leader Iain Roberts stands by the decision.
Other measures include the sale of part of the hospital site, increased staff parking costs and eight trauma and orthopaedic beds closing, although bosses say these will reopen.
Ward B3 has 22 beds and patients have been reallocated to other wards.
HOSPITAL bosses have had their transparency questioned after a ‘leak’ revealed huge cuts at cash strapped Stepping Hill – including a ward shutting the next day.
In a bid to tackle a £40m budget deficit 350 ‘full time equivalent’ jobs will go at the hospital and surgical ward B3 shut on Friday.
The news was broken by Stockport’s Liberal Democrats and despite criticism party leader Iain Roberts stands by the decision.
He is concerned that the hospital did not go public sooner with the plans or engage in public consultation. And he hopes that when ‘likely’ further cuts happen the hospital is more open.
Councillor Roberts said: “Central government funding has put the hospital in a difficult place and it is cutting things it otherwise wouldn’t. But there are legitimate questions about how they are going about it.
“We need to understand why it has got to this stage without public consultation or notification. It is a concern.
“It seems very unlikely this will be the last of the cuts. Hospitals across Greater Manchester are under huge pressure. For the next stage how open is it going to be?”
Other measures include the sale of part of the hospital site, which mainly houses offices, increased staff parking costs and eight trauma and orthopaedic beds closing, although bosses say these will reopen.
Ward B3 has 22 beds and patients have been reallocated to other wards. It is thought the 350 jobs will go over the next two years.
The hospital has 5,000 staff and bosses say they are now ‘inviting voluntary redundancy’. They will also not fill positions that are currently vacant.
Executive member for health, Labour councillor Tom McGee, criticised the leak, saying the hospital was being ‘irresponsibly’ used as a political football.
He said: “It is incredibly unfortunate that details of this confidential plan have been released before all staff were made aware.”
Councillor Syd Lloyd, Conservative leader, added: “This was absolutely disgraceful. This breach of trust by the Liberal Democrats calls into question if they should in be briefed with confidential information.”
Coun Roberts says the information was not confidential and the release had been run past Stepping Hill.
A spokesman for the hospital trust said: “We wanted to inform staff about the actions we were taking in person, as soon as possible, which we did at a meeting last week.
“No services are being closed, so a public consultation was not appropriate. “The closure of beds is part of a wider restructure of our services with more patients being seen in the community.
“It was not necessary to inform patients or families beforehand as the beds were not in use.”