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Hospitals in Derby are facing more than £55m in cuts over the next three years, as £334m in private financing is channelled into a new single site.
Management consultants are now being drafted in to advise the existing Derby City General and Derbyshire Royal Infirmary hospitals on how to save money following the announcement.
Health chiefs have admitted that the 7,500 staff members at the hospitals are likely to be concerned about the cuts, but have moved to assure them and the public that the reductions will guarantee “the best possible patient care”.
Julie Acred, of the Southern Derbyshire NHS Trust, said: “We are a service where we spend two thirds of our budget on staff and inevitably they will be concerned about what it will mean for them.
“We’ve long held the view that we should minimise redundancies as far as possible and that we should use natural turnover to try and secure change.”
The new hospital, which will replace the two existing sites, is due to open in 2009.
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