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By Annette Kinsella, Coventry Evening Telegraph
MORE than 30 nursing and medical staff jobs may go at Coventry's Walsgrave Hospital over the next 10 months.
The revelation comes in a draft copy of a staff consultation document obtained by the Evening Telegraph.
The report, which has not yet been shown to staff, states that the jobs of nurses and medical support staff are under threat in several wards as part of the reorganisation of University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Trust and the building of a new "super hospital".
The Evening Telegraph revealed last week that up to 250 jobs could be lost across all departments. After initially stating that no frontline medical staff would go, hospital bosses said that there would be no "forced" redundancies among nursing teams.
The draft document details the numbers of nursing staff under threat and also gives a breakdown of the loss of beds on M3, M5 and Whitley wards, which deal with rehabilitation and intermediate care.
It states that the three wards currently include 68 beds which will be reduced to 52.
More than 30 staff whose jobs are affected - expected to be those working on Whitley, M3 and M5 wards - will be offered the chance to go for posts on the newly-structured wards, but could have to undergo "competitive" interviews.
Unsuccessful applicants could be redeployed to George Eliot Hospital in Nuneaton or the primary care trust.
The latest revelations have already sparked anger from a trade union leader.
Today Bob Storry, regional officer at the technical and skilled employees' union Amicus, accused the hospital of acting dishonestly and said he was anxious to meet managers face to face.
He said: "We still don't know what's happening. They are putting out headlines saying 'it's not going to affect frontline services' but now we find out it could be otherwise.
"It has been kept a secret, which will just frighten staff."
Last week trust chief executive David Roberts said he did not foresee forced redundancies in nursing.
He said: "As a course of last resort we may well choose redundancies, but this would be a last port of call if we can't retrain or redeploy.
"I would be disappointed if we were making large numbers of people redundant."
Karen Pearce, of the Royal College of Nursing, said she too was hoping to meet managers face to face to discuss the situation.
She said union members had not yet met with the hospital's management team following the announcement of 250 job losses last week.
