Hospital boss accused of spin over redundancies

Pennine Acute Trust Chief Executive, John Saxby

A hospital boss has told staff that no decision has been made over redundancies and all options are being considered, but staff have accused Pennine Acute Hospital Trust Chief Executive, John Saxby, of 'dissembling'.

In the Trust’s core brief, which is sent to all staff, Mr Saxby said: “You may have seen some local media articles about the financial challenge facing the Trust and rumour and speculation about possible redundancies being planned. No decision has been made." 

On Saturday (28 January) Rochdale Online broke the news that the Trust is set to announce redundancies - this was not "rumour and speculation" as the Trust is now trying to suggest, rather it was accurate information from two very well placed sources. The Trust was invited to comment by Rochdale Online but refused to address the question of redundancies.

In his brief to staff, Mr Saxby uses carefully chosen words (see below) about the possibility of redundancies. “While we haven’t had to resort to redundancies in the past, given the scale of the challenge we now face, and will continue to face throughout next year, we have to consider all options for living within our budget and it would be irresponsible for us to rule anything out. We will do everything we can to minimise the impact on staff."

A source within the Trust, who does not want to be named, said: "This is typical Trust spin and anyone familiar with the Healthy Futures 'consultation' will recognise the weasel words. The Trust say decisions haven't been made when we all know the decisions have been made. Then a few months down the line the Trust announces the decision we all knew had already been made. Staff wish the Trust would stop the dissembling and just be the open and transparent organisation they laughingly claim to be."