NHS Trust confirms plans to cut 600 roles by 2028
LDRSHundreds of NHS staff are set to lose their jobs at a health trust amid "significant financial pressures".
The County Durham and Darlington NHS Trust confirmed it is planning to cut about 600 full-time equivalent roles from its workforce over the next two years.
Health bosses at the trust claimed they would be taking a "measured approach" to the cuts, including offering a voluntary severance scheme, without disrupting healthcare services.
It comes after the neighbouring University Hospitals Tees Trust, which covers North Tees, Hartlepool and South Tees, also said it is planning to cut 600 roles.
The trust is in charge of University Hospital North Durham and Darlington Memorial Hospital, as well as other community hospital sites around the region.
Staff will continue to be recruited in the patient safety and service delivery departments, the trust said.
A spokesperson said: "Like many NHS trusts nationally, we are facing significant financial pressures and have a responsibility to use public resources efficiently while providing safe, high-quality care."
The union Unison warned that up to 21,000 roles could be cut nationally by 2028.
Unison's head of health, Helga Pile, told the Local Democracy Reporting Service staff morale has been hampered by the proposed cuts.
"Cutting thousands of NHS jobs is the wrong answer when staff are already stretched to breaking point," she said.
A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said it had invested £26bn into the NHS which 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," they said.