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Unite anger at proposals to slash Norfolk pathology services

The scheme, which is being copied across the whole of the East of England under the banner ‘Transforming Pathology Services’, would see routine work transferred from the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in King’s Lynn and the James Paget Hospital in Great Yarmouth to existing facilities at the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital in Norwich.

At present, routine tests in either King’s Lynn or Yarmouth are done locally. Under these proposals, all that work (approx 70 per cent of the total) would go to Norwich and only emergency and hospital tests would be carried out at Queen Elizabeth Hospital and the James Paget Hospital .

Unite regional officer, Mark Robinson, said: “These proposals would see a significant number of job losses and potential deskilling of other vital scientific roles. It appears very few, if any, jobs are to be created as a result of moving these tests which will see a great deal of uncertainty for staff at all three trusts in Norfolk .

Norfolk ’s NHS trusts have been forced to consider merging services by the government and the strategic health authority in an attempt to cut costs by 20 per cent. Unite believes the services provided separately in all three trusts already provide high quality and good value to the commissioners and most importantly patients.

Mark Robinson added: “The proposal to cut these highly skilled jobs and create ‘super labs’ will lead to a poorer service to patients and wasted NHS resources in funding redundancy payments to the affected staff.

“Unite calls upon the strategic health authority to reconsider this path and allow all hospitals in Norfolk and the East of England to continue to provide a high quality pathology service to meet the need of its locality.”

For Further Information Contact Mark Robinson on 07884 475154 or Ashraf Choudhury in the Unite press office on 020 3371 2061 or 07980 224761.

Notes to Editors:

The combined service for the three trusts is called the Eastern Pathology Alliance. Similar organisations are setting up in other parts of the East of England with a partnership called Transforming Pathology Partnership (lead by Addenbrookes) are preparing staffing levels.