A survey from NHS Providers finds that more than a third of respondents are cutting clinical posts as they try to balance their books.

NHS trusts have said that they are determined to protect patient safety even as both services and jobs are cut.

The NHS is looking to recover a predicted financial shortfall that reached nearly £7 billion this year and trusts have been asked to reduce running costs drastically while improving performance against key targets. With the 10-year health plan due to be published in the coming months, nearly half of trust leaders have warned they are scaling back services to deliver tough financial plans.

Virtual wards, rehabilitation centres, talking therapies and diabetes services for young people are among the services identified at risk, demonstrating the extremely tough choices being faced by NHS leaders.

The results from the survey by NHS Providers, the membership organisation for the NHS hospital, mental health, community and ambulance services, found that more than a third (37%) of respondents said that their organisation is cutting clinical posts as they try to balance their books, with a further 40% considering this.

Cuts have consequences

With trusts told to halve corporate cost growth, 86% of trust leaders said their organisation is going to have to cut posts in non-clinical teams – such as HR, finance, estates, digital and communications – which potentially risks efforts to deliver services, innovate and improve productivity.

The scale of job cuts is becoming clear with a number of trusts aiming to take out 500 posts or more and one organisation planning to cut around 1,000 jobs.

Close to three in five respondents said patient experience (61%), work to address health inequalities (60%) and access to timely care (57%) were most at risk of being impacted.

Nearly nine in ten (88%) said they don’t have enough funding to invest in prevention.

“Trust leaders will always put patient safety and quality of care first,” said interim chief executive of NHS Providers Saffron Cordery. “But let’s also be clear: cuts have consequences. NHS trusts face competing priorities of improving services for patients and boosting performance while trying to balance the books with ever-tighter budgets. National leaders must appreciate that makes a hard job even harder.”