HUNDREDS of jobs have been lost from Dudley’s NHS trust as the group attempts to make £7.5 million of savings.

Of the 259 posts which have gone from Dudley Group NHS Foundation Trust in the past year - 26 were compulsory redundancies, 33 staff left voluntarily, while 200 jobs have been lost because staff that left were not replaced.

Trust bosses say the job losses have enabled them to make “necessary” savings in the wake of Government funding cuts, while safeguarding “as many jobs as possible”.

Chief executive Paula Clark said: “Voluntary redundancies totalled 33 and those staff left by March 31, 2015. A further 26 posts were identified for compulsory redundancy as part of our workforce reduction programme for 2014/15.

“Of the 26, eight posts were made compulsory redundant and left the organisation on March 31, 2015. A further five have been successfully redeployed.

“We continue to seek redeployment opportunities for the remaining 13 staff, some of whom are already on a trial period for redeployment.

“As vacancies arise, we are proactively matching the skills required for the post with those of staff on the redeployment register and will continue to do this until their notice period expires.

“We have also permanently removed 200 posts out of the funded budget by actively reviewing vacancies all year as they arose. All these measures have allowed us to make the necessary £7.5 million savings whilst safeguarding as many jobs as possible.”

The Dudley Group, which employs around 4,000 people, announced last November that it was planning to shed 400 non-clinical jobs and in January it was confirmed that £14m needed to be saved from the trust’s wage bill over the next two years.

The trust said its staffing requirements will “continue to be assessed based on service demand”.

Dudley North MP Ian Austin branded the cuts “a disaster for our local hospital”.

He said he accepted trust bosses have been “trying to reduce compulsory redundancies and find some staff other work”.

But he said: “I’m concerned that the hospital has already lost more than 200 jobs. Local people share my concerns that it’s just not possible to lose these jobs without an impact on the care and treatment people receive.

“The Conservatives have broken all their previous promises to invest in the NHS so I’ll be keeping up the pressure for Russells Hall to get the resources it needs.”

In April the Tories pledged to protect the NHS by “guaranteeing” an £8bn increase in spending per year above inflation by 2020.