No jobs for nurses at debt-ridden hospital

STUDENT nurses in Weston have been told they will not find jobs at the town's hospital because of drastic cost-cutting measures which are being introduced there. The nurses, who trained at Weston General Hospital, say the £30,000 spent educating each of them will be wasted because health trust bosses are being forced to slash their budgets. At a board meeting last week, health bosses at Weston Area Health Trust, which runs the Grange Road hospital, agreed that 150 jobs will go as part of a plan to save £9million this year.The Government-backed plan not to replace staff who leave over the next two years aims to help the debt-ridden trust climb out of the red. This week the Weston & Somerset Mercury was contacted by a student nurse who wishes to remain anonymous.She claims her colleagues will be the first to suffer from the belt-tightening measures.She said: "We are newly qualified nurses who have spent three years studying and working on placements in Weston. To our disgust we have just been told there are no jobs for us at the trust, not now or in the future. "This is a dangerous situation because inexperienced nurses are left in charge of wards and are put under incredible stress."The Government has spent over £30,000 training each of us for the past three years so why are we not being used within the NHS? "The situation at Weston is critical and staff have extremely low morale."The Government is wasting money training us. It seems a shame that three years ago many of us decided to take up the vocation of nursing only to be let down by the Government."A Department of Health spokesman said: "Decisions about local services are made at a local level. Under no circumstances would we cut jobs to balance the books."A trust spokesman said: "When nurses undertake their training placements at Weston, they are not guaranteed a post at the end of it and this is made clear throughout their time here.