Shake-up of hospital staff in bid to cut wage bill by £16m
Almost 200 staff have been moved to alternative roles at Sandwell's hospital trust as part of plans to slash more than £16million from the wage bill.
The organisation, which runs Sandwell Hospital and City Hospital, has been redeploying staff to other positions to help cut costs.
Bosses announced in 2014 that they needed to axe around 1,400 posts over five years to balance the books.
But they have worked to find non-medical staff new roles within the organisation rather than losing those individuals.
The hospital trust has also been working to reduce the amount spent on agency workers, choosing to invest more more money in permanent medical staff.
Director of organisation development, Raffaela Goodby said: "We are part way through a five year change programme, which we have been open about with staff and local residents.
"In the last 15 months nearly 200 staff have been redeployed into new roles, as we look to reduce safely our pay costs, but retain valued employees, many of whom live locally.
"Our plans for 2016, 2017 and 2018 will be confirmed in spring 2016, but we would expect them to be in line with previously published estimates of increased community based staffing and reduced staffing in back office functions and some hospital functions.
"The first step in change is always reducing agency costs, and our priority remains quality and safety."
Figures released last month showed the hospital trust has spent £9 million so far this year on temporary staff, including splashing out £1.5m in September alone.
Despite the workforce review, bosses had pledged to protect frontline staff and bolster numbers.
More than 100 nurses are being recruited in a bid to fill vacancies and boost patient care.
It follows the recruitment of extra midwives and health visitors as part of a £500,000 investment boost the service offered to mothers and families in July. They have also been taking action to reduce staff sickness after it emerged it has cost the trust £9m so far this year.
The current sickness absence level of 4.91 per cent is nearly 0.5 per cent higher than the national average.
In July, chief executive Toby Lewis announced there would be an investment of £100,000 in physiotherapy for workers as the common cause of staff sickness is muscle injury.
