STAFF at Sharoe Green Hospital in Preston have been assured their jobs are safe - despite an announcement last week that one of its three post-natal wards is to close.

Trust managers confirmed there will be no redundancies incurred in the cost-cutting exercise due to take place in May.

"Excess staff will be redeployed with every effort to satisfy personal job preferences," said hospital press officer Jane Jackman.

And she rejected rumours that staff will have to reapply for their own jobs, adding any losses would be through natural wastage.

The move to amalgamate follows calls by Trust bosses to each department to come up with ways to save money.

A spokesperson for the Obstetrics and Gynaecology Unit said the rationalisation was expected to save the hospital around £167,000 per year.

And she blamed the ward closure on changing childbirth trends which mean three post-natal wards are no longer needed: "It complies with women's own preferences to go home early."

Trust chief executive Steve Ashcroft assured patients that standards will be maintained: "There will be no reduction in the standards of service and certainly no reduction in patient activity which for obvious reasons we can't control."

He said: "We don't actually need three separate wards and this is simply part of the directorate's contribution to the Trust's overall financial planning."

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