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Cutting NHS jobs: Political suicide

Proposals to cut the NHS workforce by up to ten per cent would never be taken up by any political party, as the move would be "political suicide", it has been claimed.

Michael Sobanja, chief executive of NHS Alliance, said that despite the fact that health services are likely to be considerably more strained in the years ahead than they have been in the last decade, any moves to cut jobs would be met with disdain by the public and as such are unlikely to be on the cards.

He commented: "It is either a serious proposal or an interesting piece of what I refer to as 'mood music', which is an attempt to get this issue of workforce on the agenda."

According to a report by the NHS Confederation, NHS spending could contract by between £8 and £10 billion over the three years from 2011 and as a result, cost pressures on the organisation could force some departments to cut jobs.