National Health Service Crisis: The NHS is going to lose more than 20,000 jobs because of a £1.1 billion deficit that is putting trusts in crisis.
According to new research released yesterday, thousands of National Health Service workers in England are at risk of losing their jobs as health trusts that are having trouble making ends meet try to save money in order to balance their budgets.
The public sector union UNISON says that at least 21,000 NHS jobs will be lost by 2028. This is because hospitals and other healthcare providers are dealing with a combined shortfall of more than £1.1 billion.
These numbers, which came from a big project that used Freedom of Information requests to collect data, show how the health system is become too busy and is under more and more financial stress. The union’s research, Less Fit for the Future, shows how the government’s insistence that NHS trusts break even financially this year is speeding up job cuts in hospitals, community services, and mental health care.
These fresh cuts are in addition to the job losses that were already announced in NHS England and integrated care boards. This means that the number of jobs that will be lost is much more than first believed.
At least 3,600 clinical jobs are at jeopardy, including nurses and other healthcare workers who work on the front lines. But many trusts haven’t said exactly where the cuts would be made, which raises concerns about how they might affect patient care. Trusts are cutting staff numbers not only by laying people off directly, but also by freezing hiring, restructuring programs, and limiting the employment of agency workers.
Major trusts are planning to cut a lot of jobs, which will have a big effect on the workforce. The University Hospitals Sussex NHS Foundation Trust plans to reduce more than 1,500 funded jobs. The Blackpool Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and the Frimley Health NHS Foundation Trust are both getting ready to cut about 1,200 jobs.
The cuts are happening at a time when money is really tight. The East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust is short on funds by more than £47 million for the 2024/25 fiscal year, and the Barking, Havering, and Redbridge University Hospitals NHS Trust is short on funds by about £39 million.
Several trusts have already said they might not be able to balance their budgets even by the government’s deadline. For example, Hull University Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust expects to have deficits of £50.2 million and £46.2 million in 2026/27 and 2027/28, respectively, and may need more help from the central government.
Even though these problems exist, new government rules punish trusts that don’t break even with fines. UNISON says this could make the situation worse instead of better.
The union warns that the real number of job losses could be much higher because not all NHS organisations were able to give full staff data.
Separate poll results from almost 20,000 NHS workers show that budgetary strains are already having an effect on the front lines. About 65% of people who answered stated their workloads had gotten bigger after job cuts, and the same number said their stress levels had gone up. Almost half (47%) claimed that internal systems had slowed down because there weren’t enough workers, and 42% thought that patient care had gotten worse.
UNISON says that the NHS is getting into a “doom loop,” where more work leads to exhaustion and illness, which leads to more staff leaving and putting even more stress on the people who are still there.
The union is asking the government to rethink its rigorous break-even rules and instead focus on hiring more people to fulfil the rising demand for healthcare services.
Helga Pile, UNISON’s head of health, said that reducing employment when there aren’t enough personnel might make an already weak system worse.
She stated, “Cutting thousands of NHS jobs is not the right answer when staff are already at their breaking point.” “The public knows that not having enough staff is a big problem, and they will be very worried to see things get worse.”
“Many trusts are having money problems because they haven’t been given enough money for years, and the current financial reset is making things uncertain for both services and staff.” Morale is really low, and people are getting more stressed out and worried about losing their jobs.
“The NHS is anticipated to change how treatment is given, with more focus on community services and new technologies. But those goals can’t be met without enough staff.