Thousands of NHS staff across England face redundancy as health trusts struggle to balance their books, according to research by the union Unison. The study estimates that at least 21,000 roles will be cut by 2028 in hospitals and other health facilities.
Efforts to meet the Government's demand for trust budgets to break even from this year are driving workforce reductions across hospital, community and mental health services, the union said. The cuts were revealed by trusts in response to freedom of information requests by Unison and are in addition to job losses at NHS England and integrated care boards announced last year.
Unison said its research shows trusts are planning cuts to roles including nurses and other clinical staff, as well as support post reductions through vacancy freezes, restructuring and reduced use of agency workers. Unison's head of health Helga Pile said: "Cutting thousands of NHS jobs is the wrong answer when staff are already stretched to breaking point. The public are all too aware how understaffing is a major problem, so they'll be rightly alarmed when the situation's getting worse."
A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said: "Thanks to the extra £26 billion we have invested, the NHS has an extra 12,000 doctors, 16,000 nurses, and 8,000 mental health workers compared to July 2024. We make no apology for reducing spend on agency staff, for which the NHS was previously paying huge sums to rip-off recruitment agencies."
