An ambulance trust is reducing the number of posts in its corporate directorates by 20%, writes HSJ.
South Central Ambulance Service Foundation Trust is planning to remove around 120 posts across all grades from its corporate teams, as part of a wider financial recovery plan.
It currently has around 585 whole-time-equivalent posts in these areas, and says it aims to protect resources for direct care.
The trust has lost several patient transport service contracts to other providers recently, meaning many staff working on these have or will be transferred to the new providers. PTS are non-emergency services, such as transporting patients to planned appointments, or between sites.
SCAS is also struggling with finances: Its savings plan is one of the highest, at close to 10% of turnover, and after seven months of 2024-25 it was forecasting a deficit.
It is in talks with neighbouring South East Coast Ambulance Service FT about forming a “group”, although details of what this would mean have not been disclosed.
SCAS acting chief finance officer Stuart Rees said: “Following consultation with staff earlier this year, SCAS is in the process of restructuring our corporate services directorates.
“The restructure is part of a wider programme of work to return the trust to financial sustainability and ensure we are fit for the future. At the heart of this is the principle that we will aim to maintain the same level of resource available for direct patient care.
“The new structure will be in place from 1 April 2025 and will see a reduction of around 120 posts across our corporate directorates. It is important to stress that we expect the number of colleagues leaving the trust to be much below this figure due to natural attrition and redeployment. We will be doing everything we can to minimise redundancies by working with colleagues to identify suitable alternative employment opportunities within the trust and elsewhere in the NHS.
“The restructure is not something that trust leadership has entered into lightly.”
Source: HSJ
Date: 16 January