11 April 2011
The London Ambulance Service is
launching its five year cost improvement programme this week (11
April) to make savings of over £53m.
Managers, support staff and frontline crews
will all be told of the package of measures – including post
reductions – at a series of conferences over the next few
weeks.
The Service is introducing a range of
efficiency measures to reduce costs and improve services. It also
expects to make up to 890 post reductions over the next five years.
But with around 300 staff leaving the Service each year, the vast
majority of reductions should come from natural wastage.
Chief Executive, Peter Bradley CBE, said:
“Unfortunately we are not immune to the financial pressures facing
the NHS. This means all areas of our business will face closer
scrutiny as we look for ways to make savings while improving the
care we give to patients. But with nearly 80 per cent of our budget
spent on staff costs it would be impossible to make the savings
required without removing posts.”
Of a total workforce of nearly 5,000 staff,
the Service expects to reduce the number of frontline posts – those
responsible for direct patient care - by 560. A further 330 posts
will be removed from management and support services. Compulsory
redundancies will be avoided wherever possible.
Peter said: “We are confident that the large
majority of posts can be reduced by not filling vacancies. We have
an average turnover rate of 7 per cent.
“As part of our planned response we will be
introducing a number of measures to control payroll costs,
including tighter control of recruitment and reduced use of agency
workers.
“We are committed to managing these reductions
so that the impact on staff is minimised and at the same time
creating an improved and efficient service for patients.”
Ends
For more information please contact the
Communications Department on 020 7783 2286.
Notes to
editors
- Every year the London Ambulance Service
receives over 1.5 million emergency calls and responds to over one
million incidents.
- Last year, we responded to more than 43,500
incidents than the year before. This equates to an increase of
demand of 4.5 per cent.
- Our budget is £281m.
- Our funding establishment is 4913
staff of which 3433 provide direct patient care.
- The 890 posts reductions include 162
posts for 2010/11 that staff are already aware of.