UNIONS have pledged to fight a North-East hospital trust’s plans to make up to 350 staff redundant.

The County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust, which runs Darlington Memorial Hospital, the University Hospital of North Durham, Bishop Auckland General Hospital and a string of smaller community hospitals, has told unions that up to 350 posts are at risk and could go by early next year.

The jobs under threat include five nurses, 20 health professionals, 25 managerial staff and 300 administrative and clerical staff.

Although trust bosses stressed that they were looking to minimise redundancies and redeploy people where possible, Darlington's Labour MP Jenny Chapman described the announcement as “grim”.

Martin Wright, regional officer for the Unite union, said he was determined to do all he could to reduce the number of jobs lost at the hospital trust.

But he placed blame for the redundancies squarely at the feet of the Government.

“This is the direct result of the Government reducing the amount of money allocated to NHS trusts to spend on patient care. The Government makes such a big deal about protecting budgets but each of the clinical commissioning groups are directed to save so much of their budget which means the amount of money spent on patient care is reduced.”

The first formal meeting to discuss the proposed redundancies is due to be held between union representatives and trust officials next week.

Sheila Wilson, regional organiser for Unison at the trust, said her members were “very concerned” at the threat to so many jobs, especially when there are currently about 100 agency staff employed on administrative work at the County Durham and Darlington Trust.

“This has been a big a shock,” she added.

Mrs Chapman said: “The Darlomums recently marched to London because of what is happening to the Health Service. When you lose 350 NHS jobs it will have an impact on patient care and services to patients however you dress it up.”

Helen Goodman, Labour MP for Bishop Auckland, said: “The trust have been told to save £20m this year. Given the increase in the ageing population it would be nice if efficiency improvements were recycled into service improvements for patients. However they have to be surrendered to the centre to pay for David Cameron’s £3 billion re-organisation of the NHS which nobody wanted and nobody voted for.”

Durham City’s Labour MP Roberta Blackman-Woods said: “I was very concerned when I received the information. I really think that the trust needs to be very clear about the possible redundancies and what has led to this situation. It would appear that the Government’s privatisation of the NHS is leading to contracts being lost by the local trust which could lead to job losses.”

A spokesman for the County Durham and Darlington Trust said: “The trust is currently involved in a series of reviews and consultations on changes to some of its services. These may affect the jobs of around 350 staff.

“We will be seeking to minimise compulsory redundancy through a number of routes including identifying redeployment opportunities, holding vacancies for displaced staff, giving priority application rights to those staff for available jobs, and some may be subject to TUPE transfer arrangements to other employers.

“Staff who are affected by any of these consultations are already aware of proposals and involved in discussions around final proposals.

"Trade unions for all affected staff are fully engaged in working with us as we move forward.”

The Department for Health and NHS England did not respond to requests for a comment.