Workforce at hospitals set to fall by 950

Calderdale and Huddersfield NHS Foundation Trust would see a dramatic reduction in its workforce if changes which include the closure of an A&E department go ahead.

An estimated 964 jobs would go at the trust under a five-year plan to make hospital services affordable as NHS services in the two towns face a £280m funding gap.

Under the plans, emergency care would be centralised at Calderdale Royal Hospital.

Huddersfield’s A&E would be downgraded to an “urgent care centre” and the town’s main hospital could be knocked down.

The workforce figure emerged in a consultation document published by Calderdale and Greater Huddersfield Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGS), which control the local health budget.

The report estimates that the hospital trust’s total workforce will reduce from 5,570 to 4,606 by the 2021-22 financial year.

More than 560 of the jobs would go as part of an “annual efficiency requirement” for the organisation, which is currently around £20m in deficit.

Jobs would also transfer to other NHS providers as part of plans to treat patients outside traditional hospital settings.

No redundancies are expected because of the number of workers already leaving and retiring from the organisation each year.

Halifax MP Holly Lynch has called on the Prime Minister David Cameron to sort out financial problems at the hospital trust.

She said: “This latest news shows the shocking consequence of the current financial problems in our local health service.”