31.05.12
£2.3m spent on trust redundancies
NHS Central Lancashire has spent £2.298m on redundancies during 2010/11, it has emerged; the highest amount spent among the 24 PCTs in theNorth West.
The PCT covers Preston, Chorley and South Ribble and made 25 non-clinical and 1 clinical staff redundant, with 29 non-clinical and 13 clinical staff taking the ‘mutually assisted resignation scheme’ (MARS).
John Critchley, NHS Central Lancashire locality director of finance, told the Lancashire Evening Post: “Every effort was made to try to avoid unnecessary redundancies through the retraining and redeployment of staff wherever possible.
“Some staff also chose to take advantage of the Government’s voluntary severance scheme (MARS).”
Tim Ellis, regional organiser for UNISON, said: “It is concerning that the NHS is being forced to spend so much on making people redundant rather than improving services.
“The money spent wastefully so far on redundancies is regrettably small compared to what will be spent over the next two years.”
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