NHS to axe 21,000 posts by 2028 as staff 'stretched to breaking point', Unison warns

Highlights

• At least 21,000 NHS jobs face the axe by 2028.
• Cuts affect nurses, clinical staff and support workers.
• Government reports 12,000 more doctors since July 2024.

Public services union Unison uncovered the scale of planned job cuts through freedom of information requests sent to trusts nationwide.

The redundancies will hit hospitals, community health services and mental health facilities across the country.

Health trusts are slashing posts to meet government demands for balanced budgets from this year.

The cuts will affect nurses and other clinical staff, along with support workers. Trusts are using vacancy freezes, restructuring and reducing agency staff numbers to trim their workforce.

These job losses come on top of redundancies already announced at NHS England and integrated care boards last year.

Helga Pile, Unison's head of health, warned that cutting thousands of jobs was the wrong approach when staff are already overstretched.

She pointed out that the public knows understaffing is a major problem, so people will be alarmed to see the situation getting worse.

"Years of underfunding have left many trusts out of pocket and ministers' financial reset is creating deep uncertainty about services and staff," Pile explained.

She added that morale has hit rock bottom as workers worry about losing their jobs while dealing with high stress levels and violence.

Pile stressed that the NHS needs to transform how it delivers care, with more community services and technology. But she warned this cannot happen without enough staff to make it work.

Government hits back

The Department of Health and Social Care defended its record, saying it has pumped an extra £26 bn into the NHS.

This investment has brought 12,000 more doctors, 16,000 additional nurses and 8,000 extra mental health workers since July 2024, a spokesperson said.

The department stood firm on cutting agency staff spending, stating that the NHS was previously paying huge amounts to recruitment agencies.

Officials argued this better value for money approach has allowed them to hire more frontline staff, give above-inflation pay rises for two years running and improve patient services.