Norfolk and Norwich Hospital cuts temporary staff in attempt to bridge £11m gap

Norfolk’s biggest hospital is cutting swathes of its temporary workforce in a bid to plug an £11 million gap in its finances.

Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital has told its agency staff they will lose out on work over the Christmas period as it seeks to balance the books.

Dozens of temporary workers are expected to be impacted by the changes, which will leave vacancies unfilled at the busiest time of the year for health services.

However, hospital bosses say the move is necessary to improve its financial situation and will allow it to invest in the things that “really matter”.

While representatives for the hospital say it has not scrapped its entire temporary workforce and will continue to run bank shifts, these will be under “heightened scrutiny” and the need to fill vacancies will be considered on a case-by-case basis.

Hospital chief executive Professor Lesley Dwyer said: “We take our financial position extremely seriously and realise the additional pressure this may create for our staff as we focus on keeping our services safe and maintaining patient care.

“We have a great team here and we are thankful to our staff for the care they deliver day in, day out and their understanding of the difficult financial situation we are in.

“We are custodians of public money and this action will help us to achieve a better financial position by the end of the financial year and, moving forwards, allow us to invest in the things that really matter.

“We believe we have strong guardrails in place to continue to deliver high-quality and safe care to the thousands of patients we see every day across our trust.”

The changes, which will be in place until at least March, mean some vacancies will be left unfilled during the busiest time of year for the hospital.

Staff say temporary workers have been “dropped” in a desperate bid to make cuts.

New figures revealed last month showed patients face the second longest waits for planned treatments in the entire country. Only those using the University Hospitals Sussex face longer wait times.

The hospital has also been urged to take action to improve its services by the Care Quality Commission.

The watchdog assessed the site in November last year in three key areas, including the experiences of outpatients visiting the hospital, and found patients could not always access services, with their care blighted by long waits and cancellations.