Almost 200 nursing and midwifery jobs will be axed in Tayside and Fife as part of massive job losses across the health service in Scotland this year.
The head of NHS Tayside has also warned that further cuts may well be necessary.
Health secretary Nicola Sturgeon told MSPs on Thursday that 3790 jobs will go 1500 of them nurses and midwives, and 1000 administrators.
Although the Scottish NHS budget has increased in real terms this year, staff costs are up around 3% and the cost of hospital drugs has soared by up to 10%, putting huge pressure on health board budgets.
With staff costs making up 70% of the overall NHS budget, health boards are planning major staff reductions.
As already revealed by The Courier, 495 jobs are to go in Tayside from a staff of 11,648 including 158 nurses and midwives, 156 administrators, 84 support service staff, 45 allied health professionals, 24 healthcare scientists and eight managers.
In Fife the 7185-strong health workforce is to be reduced by 54, including 29 nurses and midwives, and 11 administrators.
In Glasgow 1252 jobs are going, 734 in Lothian and 577 in Grampian.
NHS Tayside chief executive Professor Tony Wells refused to rule out further cuts if the opportunity to make savings arises.Further cutsHe said, “The quality of patient care is paramount to NHS Tayside and over the next few years we will be continually looking at how we can cut waste and inefficiencies across the whole organisation, while protecting frontline services.
“This will be very much in close partnership with our staff side and trade union colleagues.
“As we have previously stated, NHS Tayside has a no redundancy policy.
“Consistent with NHS Tayside’s existing policy on recruitment to vacant posts we will in the first instance consider all opportunities for the more effective utilisation of existing staff through internal recruitment/redeployment.
“We also plan to reduce the use of overtime, bank and agency staff.”
He added, “Like all other responsible organisations, the approach within NHS Tayside is to ensure robust management systems are in place for the careful scrutiny and approval of staff vacancies as they arise.
“We will also take every opportunity to redesign how services are provided and look at how we can change and improve the way we deliver services across the whole organisation.”
An NHS Fife spokesman said, “The figures provided by NHS Fife are estimates at this time and are therefore subject to change as we continue to develop plans with the service and in partnership with staff representatives.
“Reductions will be achieved through turnover, redeployment and the termination of fixed-term contracts.”
Ms Sturgeon said, “I have made it clear to boards that staff efficiencies must not compromise the quality of care.
“They have a responsibility to demonstrate that such efficiencies can be achieved by service redesign, by advances like increasing day-care rates and by greater productivity.”
“NHS boards are committed this year to securing more than £100 million in non-workforce-related efficiency savings which will all be reinvested in frontline care.
“But the drive to deliver services more efficiently also involves looking at staffing requirements and these projections are part of that process.”
She added, “These figures are not set in stone. I expect boards to continue to try to minimise the reductions by working hard to maximise non-workforce-related efficiencies.
“I have also guaranteed that there will be no compulsory redundancies and the quality of patient care remains paramount. The national scrutiny group will scrutinise health boards’ plans closely to ensure this remains the case.”Warning over impactHowever the unions warned the cuts will hit health services.
Royal College of Nursing Scotland director Theresa Fyffe said, “If health boards across Scotland continue to pursue such cost-cutting measures on the wage bill, without properly carrying out service redesign and looking at other areas of cost pressures, they will be left with a demoralised and overstretched workforce and may risk standards in patient care.
“It would also make it difficult and more costly to redesign services to meet patient needs in the future as appropriately skilled nurses and other healthcare professionals may no longer be in the workforce.”
Chairman of the British Medical Association in Scotland Dr Brian Keighley said, “There is intense pressure to make savings in the health service and as the NHS budget begins to shrink, boards will inevitably have to consider cuts to frontline services.
“However, making indiscriminate cuts is not only short-sighted but could cause irreparable damage to the NHS.”
Scottish Labour launched a campaign on Thursday attacking the job losses in the NHS under the banner More Nats, Fewer Nurses a twist on the SNP election slogan More Nats, Less Cuts.
Health spokeswoman Jackie Bailie said, “It didn’t really work for them then and I have to say it sounds pretty hollow now.
“The hypocrisy of claiming on the one hand to protect frontline services but on the other hand presiding over the worst cuts since the advent of devolution is quite breathtaking and also hugely disappointing.”MSPs clashTory health spokesman Murdo Fraser told MSPs health spending has increased.
He added, “There are savings to be made and we reject the nonsense this will automatically have an impact on patient care.”
Scottish Lib Dem health spokesman Ross Finnie said, “We are looking at a serious position where those health boards all have to make savings just to cover where we are, never mind any projected future cuts that may be in the pipeline.”
The news sparked an angry war of words between two Fife MSPs amid accusations of “scaremongering.”
Labour MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife Claire Baker described the announcement as “very bad news” for the region.
She said, “The SNP have been forced to come clean and admit that they plan to cut 54 NHS jobs in Fife this year, the majority of which are nurses and midwives.
“These are cuts to jobs that are involved in the delivery of frontline care and I’m therefore concerned about the effect this year’s cuts will have on patient care.”
SNP Central Fife MSP Tricia Marwick accused Mrs Baker of “scaremongering.”
She said, “Both NHS Fife and the health secretary Nicola Sturgeon have publicly stated that there will be no compulsory redundancies, and that the quality of patient care remains paramount.”