It missed its savings target by millions of pounds last year
Nottinghamshire University Hospitals is the NHS trust that runs City Hospital and Queen’s Medical Centre(Image: Ian Hodgkinson/Picture It)
Nottinghamshire’s largest employer will make more job cuts as it attempts to save £106 million this year – but the huge NHS trust has refused to reveal how many.
Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust (NUH), which runs Queen’s Medical Centre and City Hospital, looks to be planning to cut more roles than bosses originally intended following financial discussions with NHS England.
The cash-strapped NHS trust, which has had to rely on extra Government payouts to keep functioning, submitted a plan in February aimed at saving £84 million in the 2026/27 financial year, which started this April, but a revised plan submitted in March increased this target by another £22 million.
Papers discussed at NUH’s board meeting on Thursday, May 13, signalled that the increased cuts would result in the trust having to trim its 19,000-strong workforce more than previously planned.
“The re-submitted workforce plan remains aligned to the financial plan with an increased net reduction in workforce in 2026/27 reflecting the increased cost-out efficiency programme,” the documents said.
When asked to clarify how many jobs it intended to cut, the NHS trust declined to explain but admitted it was planning to make some teams “smaller”.
Danielle Petch, chief people officer at NUH, said: “Improving services for our patients through transformation will lead to different ways of providing services and, in some cases, smaller teams.
“Much of this will be achieved by the normal rate of people retiring, choosing to move on, or taking advantage of redeployment opportunities, minimising the need for compulsory redundancies.”
NUH announced the cutting of at least 430 jobs in June as part of a plan to try to save £97 million last year, but it significantly missed this target.
Ms Petch said the trust’s programme for the 2026/27 year was “ambitious” and aimed to make the busy NHS organisation financially sustainable, improve patient care, and enhance working conditions.
“We are looking to transform our urgent and emergency care pathways, improve the use of our outpatient pathways, optimise theatre space and implement a customer service centre,” the NUH executive said.
“We will also continue to invest in our estate, with the opening of the National Rehabilitation Centre and Community Diagnostics Centre, along with improved facilities in our Cath Labs [which allow medics to examine hearts in greater detail], Endoscopy and TIA [Transient Ischaemic Attack] clinic.”
NUH’s board papers explained that even if £106 million of savings were found, which is 5.9 per cent of the trust’s turnover, it would still need £36 million in extra NHS funding to break even.
Its resubmitted plan also depends on a £15 million increase in funding from the Nottingham and Nottinghamshire ICB, which commissions healthcare services, a commitment from the NHS to resolve the £11 million funding gap created by NUH operating the delayed National Rehabilitation Centre in Stanford on Soar, and external help to make its massive savings target possible.