The Trust - which operates the Southport & Formby District General, Ormskirk & District General and Southport General Infirmary hospitals - said that 33 jobs must go immediately and a further 50 will follow next year. Chief Executive Jonathan Parry claimed that a recruitment freeze and other cost-cutting measures were not enough to keep the wolf from the door.

Parry announced that with the exception of ward-based nurses, staff at all levels have been considered and the list affects a range of jobs and grades. Staff whose jobs are at risk will now be seen by their managers over the next few days to have the selection process explained to them.

Unless the sacrificial lambs come from the ranks of the suited bureaucrats (which seems very unlikely since they make the decisions), the jobs that are lost will be essential to the healthcare that people in Southport and Ormskirk rely on. We can’t just ‘do without’ these people. Hospital staff are already overworked in this country, and often work unofficial overtime. Now in Southport and Ormskirk they will have to absorb the workloads of eighty-seven people. Tired workers will inevitably make more mistakes.

Meanwhile, the Government refuses to make up the nationwide NHS deficit, which amounts to 1.5% of its annual military budget. BUPA execs and arms dealers rub their hands with glee, while working class people from Birkenhead to Basra and Kirkby to Kabul are the ones to suffer.