Scale of job cuts at West Suffolk Hospital, in Bury St Edmunds, confirmed by West Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust

The NHS trust which runs West Suffolk Hospital has confirmed that staffing levels will drop from 4,964 to 4,759 by this time next year.

A spokesman for the West Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust (WSFT), which runs the hospital in Bury St Edmunds and Newmarket Community Hospital, said this follows a similar scale reduction in the financial year 2024/2025.

Cuts have been agreed by the NHS Suffolk and North East Essex Integrated Care Board (ICB), and will also affect East Suffolk and North Essex Foundation Trust (ESNEFT).

West Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust

Jeremy Over, executive director of workforce and communications for WSFT, said the trust had worked closely with the ICB to develop a financial plan ‘to balance the books of the healthcare system’.

“It outlines the scale of savings needed to become sustainable – both in the coming year and more long term – while still providing high quality care for our patients,” said Mr Over.

“Together, we’re taking difficult but necessary decisions to manage our budgets and deliver a level of productivity that matches our resources.

“Reducing the number of temporary and permanent staff we employ is one of the ways we’ll achieve this, but every part of the Trust is contributing to make us fit for the future.”

The trust said the decrease in posts will not be made up entirely of redundancies and may be achieved through natural turnover and continued reductions in use of temporary staff, including agency and bank workers.

“As part of a national directive from NHS England to reduce corporate services budgets to pre-pandemic levels, the trust is currently undertaking a long-term review of trust services including its corporate and administrative services,” said the spokesman.

East Suffolk and North Essex NHS Foundation Trust

A spokeswoman for ESNEFT, which runs Ipswich Hospital and Colchester Hospital, said this year it has employed 12,932 members of staff.

As a result of staffing changes, including transferring staff to the partner organisation Sodexo, the trust confirmed there will be a net decrease of 229 staff in post.

The spokeswoman said the cuts to 449 whole-time equivalent staff members, outlined at the ICB board meeting, represented a number of changes within staffing numbers which the trust has anticipated for the financial year 2025/26.

A total of 393 whole-time equivalent staff will be transferring from ESNEFT to Sodexo, which will run security, portering, housekeeping and catering services.

The transfer to Sodexo will be done in three phases, starting from January.

The spokeswoman said smaller changes include increases in apprenticeships and an offer of permanent employment for some students training at the trust.

She added that in some areas of the trust there is a national shortage meaning it won’t be able to recurit for certain roles.

An ICB spokesman said: “The ICB board approved the NHS financial and workforce plan for Suffolk and north east Essex for 2025/26.

“This plan was created by the ICB and its local NHS partners.

“Its implementation will support the meeting of the majority of the national performance requirements within the budget we have been allocated.”

Please help support local journalism. For 50 per cent off our annual subscription price, use SNBRIEFING (no space) as the Offer Code and receive £30 off a year's subscription.

This gives you access to our ad-lite SuffolkNews website and digital editions of all our papers.