Nottingham hospitals confirm staff redundancies in bid to tackle 'financial challenges'

The trust is trying to tackle a £104.5 million shortfall

Sixteen staff at Nottingham's hospitals have lost their jobs as part of plans to fill a financial black hole. Nottingham University Hospitals (NUH) Trust, which runs Queen's Medical Centre and City Hospital, put dozens of staff at risk of redundancy in April in an effort to tackle a £104.5 million shortfall.

As part of the plans to fix its "deteriorating financial position", the trust agreed to outsource large chunks of its finance department to a private provider. Payroll and pension services were the first to be outsourced to NHS Shared Business Services (SBS) on October 1 and were required to work in Leeds as part of the transfer.

NUH confirmed 16 staff - almost all of those told to move - decided to take redundancy. Several other teams, including procurement and taxation, are due to be transferred by April 1 to SBS, a company jointly run by the Department of Health and the French IT services firm Sopra Steria.

Unison, a union which represents thousands of workers at the trust, is campaigning against the move, which it says is putting 84 jobs at risk. It handed in a petition signed by more than 2,000 people to NUH board members on September 13. This has been backed by a group of eight Labour MPs from across Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire.

In a statement, the group, which includes the city's three MPs, Rushcliffe's James Naish and Gedling's Michael Payne, said: "There is, in our view, an incompatibility between the aims of private companies and the aims of the NHS. A company's primary concern is its shareholders, not the patients.

"This is why we support an NHS that is publicly owned and publicly funded and stand with Unison on this campaign. While NUH leaders ultimately have the autonomy to make local decisions, we call upon them to demonstrate more clearly how this decision is in the best interests of the public and, as part of our campaign with Unison, will engage ministerial colleagues to reiterate calls for building a publicly-owned NHS which is fit for the future, both medically and administratively."

Describing the morale of people within the finance department, Unison regional organiser Rachel Perry-Doyle said "It's mixed, people are stressed and worried about their own situation. People are very angry and don't think it's been dealt with very well."

Paul Matthew, chief financial officer at NUH, said: “Following a formal consultation with staff in our payroll team, we have now officially transferred our services to NHS Shared Business Services (SBS). We know that this has been a challenging period for colleagues, and we are committed to supporting them through this process and to working with those affected.

“The changes taking place in our Finance and Procurement Department form part of our wider plan to tackle financial challenges at the trust. We have a duty to reduce our financial deficit and have produced a comprehensive plan to modernise and achieve a break-even position by April 2026."