         |
By Fiona Scott, Coventry Evening Telegraph
COVENTRY Northwest MP Geoffrey Robinson has called on Walsgrave Hospital bosses to rule out any compulsory redundancies.
He spoke out after hospital chief executive Dave Roberts revealed that up to 250 posts will go because of a £7.8million shortfall in the budget.
Mr Robinson said he'd had "no inkling" of the impending job losses at the hospital, adding: "It's essential they don't have compulsory redundancies.
"The best way, the most economical way, is to cut back on nonmedical agency staff and they must not cut back on clinical nursing and medical staff as that's where the increased money's got to be spent."
Meanwhile, MP Bob Ainsworth, whose Coventry North-east constituency includes the hospital, said he wants Mr Roberts to explain more fully why the jobs are at risk.
Mr Ainsworth said: "I can't fully understand why these issues have arisen at a time of growth in their budgets and where the £ 7.8million deficit has arisen.
"They have got to ( balance the books) - we can't have hospitals spending money they haven't got. I don't pretend to understand the details of why they are where they are.
"They got three stars back in the summer and they can't have three stars if they are not a well financially managed trust.
"If they are suggesting there are 250 staff there who are not front-line staff and whose jobs are not necessary that's somewhat surprising."
Since 1997-98 the government has doubled the money spent on the NHS from £34.7billion to £69.7billion. Last year, one-third of hospital trusts and onequarter of the trusts responsible for GPs, opticians and dentists had deficits totalling £499million.
The chief executive of the Healthcare Commission, Anna Walker, warned it was a "very serious issue" and that patients would suffer if it became a permanent problem.
The Royal College of Medicine said the government should "apply the brakes" to reform.
The Department of Health said some trusts underspent and when that was taken into account, the overall overspend was £140 million just 0.2 per cent of the budget.
