Hundreds more jobs could be cut this year across the Northamptonshire hospitals in an effort to make much-needed savings.
The University Hospitals of Northamptonshire (UHN) Group, which encompasses Northampton and Kettering General Hospitals (NGH and KGH), has said it is looking to cut almost 800 jobs across its workforce.
This comes after the hospitals opened up a Mutually Agreed Resignation Scheme (MARS), which began in May this year.
UHN’s Chief People Officer, Paula Kirkpatrick, said the voluntary resignation programme had been “successful in helping us to reduce our overall workforce costs in a controlled and compassionate way across both of our hospitals”.
Papers going to a UHN Board of Directors meeting on Friday August 1 have confirmed that the MARS programme has now ended. It was agreed that 80 members of staff would be leaving the organisation between July and September.
Laura Churchward, Chief Executive of the University Hospitals, previously said that colleagues who directly provide care for patients were not in scope of the scheme.
‘We are doing all we can to avoid needing to make redundancies’
Chief People Officer Ms Kirkpatrick continued: “Our aim for this year is to reduce our salary costs by reducing our total workforce by the equivalent of 781 posts and so we will be continuing to look at how best to do that.
“We are doing all we can to avoid needing to make redundancies this year by reducing the use of expensive agency workers, reducing the number of new starters joining us, and reducing our use of bank workers, and this work continues.”
The current workforce amounts to 11,000 staff across Kettering and Northampton general hospitals combined.
The UHN said it had reduced its workforce by the equivalent of 329 posts in total since the end of 2024/25.
The University Hospitals of Northamptonshire’s Group Chief Executive Laura Churchward said: “The University Hospitals of Northamptonshire is not seeking to make significant reductions to our substantive workforce this year.
“As part of our efforts to manage overall staffing costs, our current focus is on reducing reliance on high-cost agency and bank staffing, while continuing to protect substantive roles where possible by carefully controlling recruitment.
“We have also recently concluded our voluntary resignation scheme (MARS), which has helped us reduce our workforce in line with national guidance. We do need to reduce our overall headcount to an affordable level, as our workforce has grown substantially over the last five years. “
‘Cutting jobs is not the answer’
The head of health for UNISON East Midlands, Gareth Eales, said: “Losing hundreds of NHS jobs is a massive blow and will send shockwaves through hospitals already under huge strain. Patients deserve safe, fully staffed services, not more pressure piled on already overstretched teams.
“We understand the financial pressures facing trusts, but cutting jobs is not the answer. What’s needed now is a serious conversation about long-term investment in our NHS, so staff can do their jobs properly and patients get the care they need.”
According to the UHN Board papers, salaries and wages of staff, including agency work, make up around 60 percent of the hospitals’ annual payments in 2025/26.
Overall workforce numbers, and the proportion of bank and agency staff, have all reduced in the first quarter of 2025/26, leaving the UHN ahead of its workforce reduction plan.