SIR – It is no surprise that Paul Bates is starting his NHS redundancy programme with 100 managers.

Many health authorities view sacking managers as low risk. It saves money but it is also an attempt to con the public that patient services won’t be directly affected. It will only be fully known how badly the planned redundancies will affect patient care when we know which managers are to go.

Labour squandered millions by creating extra layers of management to administer the artificial NHS internal market instead of investing directly in front line services.

However, it is wrong to axe jobs in the NHS full stop. If these managers really are surplus to requirements then they should be asked, along with trade unions in Worcestershire’s NHS and patient groups, what their skills can best be used for to really improve patient services so they can be redeployed.

If we really do have too many “generals” then let’s have a few more “troops” instead. Retraining should be offered if necessary.

Unemployment figures are already soaring.

The Campaign to Defend Jobs and Services opposes these redundancies as well as those still to come which, as Paul Bates has openly acknowledged, will affect workers who deliver frontline services.

Join our Facebook group, ring me on 0781 4836909 or come to our launch meeting tomorrow at 6.30pm, upstairs in the Plough, Fish Street, Worcester.

Sean McCauley,
Campaign to Defend Jobs and Services Worcester.