A DOCUMENT leaked to a national newspaper has shown that hospital workers in Swindon could have their pay cut and be asked to work longer hours - and those who refuse could face the sack.
 

The document, which was leaked to the Sunday Times, reveals that 19 NHS trusts in south west England, including the Great Western Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, are looking at proposals that would also cut down holiday entitlement by two days and see staff work 25 minutes more a day without extra pay.


Other measures outlined in the document suggest terminating all staff contracts and re-offering them on different terms.


Oonagh Fitzgerald, director of workforce and education at GWH, said that approximately 70 per cent of their income is currently spent on staff pay and different avenues would have to be explored to make their income go further.
 

"The Great Western Hospitals NHS FT has agreed to work with a number of other organisations in the south west as part of a pay, terms and conditions consortium to explore different ways of pay and reward for staff that will help us meet the serious financial and operational challenges facing the NHS now and in the future.


“All NHS organisations are dealing with difficult financial and operational challenges which mean difficult decisions have to be made about how money is best used for patients. This year in our Trust we have to save £16m and more money in future years.
 

“Approximately 70 per cent of our income is spent on staff pay and we have to look at this, and every other opportunity, that exists to make our income go further for our patients.
 

“Each year as our income remains the same, the pressure on our costs grows, money which we have to find from other areas. This year for example this additional pressure on the pay bill was an extra £1.7m and clearly we need to look into the future to find ways to make this more sustainable so that the cost pressures do not start to impact on patients.
 

“Media reports at the weekend contained extracts from a confidential document written in January 2012 and which outlines in simple terms a variety of ways the aims of the consortium may be achieved.
 

“Our focus throughout this will be on how we can ensure pay pressures are managed properly and that the quality of the service we provide is maintained and improved. This work is in the very early days and no decisions on any specific measures have been taken.

"We’re discussing this issue on a regular basis with our Employee Partnership Forum whose role it is to represent the views of staff and we’ll be keeping them closely informed of this work as it develops.”