By Amy Fallon
Exclusive: Salaried GPs employed by a PCT face being made redundant as NHS managers charged with cutting costs turn their attention to general practice.
NHS Central Lancashire has placed a series of salaried GP positions under review as the PCT looks to restructure the organisation and realign costs.
Dr Edoardo Cervoni, a full-time permanent salaried GP employed by the PCT to work in practices in Preston and Ormskirk, is one of several GPs to be told their contracts are due to be terminated by the trust.
Dr Cervoni was informed in April that salaried GP positions had been placed under review and has now been told to expect to be made redundant at the end of July.
'I was told that the PCT was going to stop providing clinical services and it had been planned that salaried GP positions "had to go",' said Dr Cervoni, a GP specialist in ENT medicine with 17 years' experience.
'Being made redundant is not nice and it has a negative impact on your career and particularly on your family life. I hope I may remain one of the very few GPs to have to experience the feeling, but it really seems that the process of dismantling the NHS is well on the go.'
Earlier this month Pulse reported GPs in north London have been informed that their staff posts at the Northwick Park Hospital were at risk of redundancy as the trust sought to meet targets to reduce outpatient spending by £9.5m this year.
Jeannette Newman, NHS Central Lancashire acting deputy chief executive, said: 'While we cannot discuss individual cases, each of our salaried GPs is undergoing a 30-day consultation before any details on possible redundancies are confirmed.'
GPs face the axe as managers cut costs
