Jobs at NHS Direct may be cut by up to a third, and nurses replaced by non-medical call centre operatives, according to press reports today.
The Nursing Times will tomorrow report that a closed session of the NHS Direct board, held on 28 February, drafted proposals to cut the equivalent of 960 full-time post through a combination of natural wastage and dismissals.
Nick Bradley, negotiator for Unison, told The Telegraph: "Some of the jobs that are going are administration staff. But the vast majority are going to be nurses and call handlers."
The figures reported roughly equate to 1,250 out of 3,746 posts. Eight call centres are also said to be up for closure, although NHS Direct told the newspaper that that figure had been reduced to seven and that no firm decision has been made.
Ann Grain, interim head of external affairs for NHS Direct, told BBC News Online that one reason behind the cuts was that the website was the "growth area" for the service, rather than the call centres.
"It is difficult to say that the numbers the unions are saying won’t happen at this stage because we do not have the firm proposals yet. That will come next month," she said.
"However, we are aiming to keep them to a minimum and are likely to recommend increasing the number of front-line staff answering calls. It is scaremongering to say 1,000 jobs are going."
Unions, however, have been reported as saying that the cuts have come after NHS Direct’s failure to win out-of-hours contracts with more PCTs.