East London NHS Trust Plans £25 million Service Cuts Amid Funding Pressure

The East London Foundation Trust (ELFT) has announced a £25 million savings programme that will redesign at least ten mental-health services—including child and adolescent care, talking therapies, addiction support, crisis care and community programmes for ethnic minorities and low-income patients. The plan calls for the loss of 330 posts, roughly 5 % of ELFT’s 6,000-strong workforce, through redundancies and the removal of posts. The 20-bed Fothergill ward at the East Ham care centre stopped taking new referrals and is scheduled to close on 21 September.

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ELFT says the cuts are required because NHS England has obliged all 205 NHS trusts to balance their books. Demand for mental-health support in England is rising sharply, intensifying concerns that service reductions will lengthen waiting times and push patients toward private care.

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• Targeted savings: £25 million.

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• Workforce impact: 330 jobs eliminated (?5 % of staff).

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• Service scope: >=10 key mental-health pathways slated for redesign.

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• Closure date: 21 September for Fothergill ward (scheduled).

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• Cut list verified as of 7 May (occurred).

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• “The screaming contradiction we see is that while NHS funding for its own trusts is so limited that ELFT has to make £25m of cuts, the Department of Health and NHS England are happy to hand £2.5bn to private firms to expand their capacity to treat NHS patients.” — September. ELFT

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