NHS Cuts 1,500 Jobs Per Trust Despite £22bn Funding Boost

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The NHS received £22 billion in new funding but still faces cutting thousands of jobs across 215 trusts. What went wrong?

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A massive £6.6 billion deficit is forcing NHS leaders to demand up to 12% in "efficiency savings" from every trust in England.

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Already, 36% of NHS trusts have cut clinical staff positions, while 86% are reducing non-clinical teams in areas like HR and finance.

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More than 25% of trusts plan to completely close at least one patient service, with nearly half scaling back frontline care.

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Diabetes care for young people, "virtual wards," end-of-life beds, and mental health therapy services are all at risk of cuts.

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Despite 121,000 vacant posts across the NHS, some large trusts are planning to cut up to 1,500 jobs each to meet financial targets.

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The funding crisis mirrors the "Nicholson challenge" of 2009-15, which later research linked to poorer patient outcomes.

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In real terms, NHS funding will actually drop by 2.4% for 2024-25 - the sharpest decline in decades, despite the headline boost.

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NHS England data shows 7.43 million people waiting for treatment, with service cuts threatening to make this number grow.

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Adding to the uncertainty: plans to dissolve NHS England itself, potentially cutting 10,000 more jobs while reorganizing the system.

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