Hammersmith Hospital to lose 300 staff
Hammersmith Hospital is to lose 300 of its staff as Hammersmith Hospital's Trust struggles to balance its books. The hospital hopes to avoid redundancies by reducing the number of agency staff used and by leaving vacant post unfilled however, they are unable to guarantee that no jobs will be lost.
Hammersmith Hospital is overseen by the North West London Strategic Health Authority whose chief executive has just been awarded a £10,000 bonus. The same Authority is also responsible for Queen Charlotte's and Charing Cross Hospitals and is the most debt ridden in Britain with deficits amounting to £15 million.
Earlier this year Hammersmith & Fulham’s health and social care scrutiny panel has called for an update from the Hammersmith Hospitals NHS Trust about the future of its health service delivery. The Trust was asked to update the panel on its transition towards foundation status and its financial recovery plan in addition to outlining a number of options for the future of service delivery from these hospitals.The troubled Trust was also downgraded from the top three stars available to just two due to their failure to meet the standards for financial management. The Trust needs £270m to maintain and update Hammersmith Hospital with a further £130m for Charing Cross.
November 15, 2005