A PROCESS that is likely to see one of the region's largest NHS trusts shed up to 700 jobs over the next three years has begun.

Wage slips received this week by almost 6,000 staff at County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust also included a letter offering them voluntary severance payments.

The package, believed to have been offered to every member of staff, signals the first of many cuts expected at the organisation responsible for Darlington Memorial Hospital, Bishop Auckland General Hospital, the University Hospital of North Durham, Chester-le-Street Hospital and Shotley Bridge Hospital, near Consett.

In March last year, The Northern Echo reported that the trust was expecting to downsize, with up to 300 posts likely to go within a matter of months and a further 400 over the next two years, in order to save £40m.

But the offer has shocked staff and angered union workers and hospital campaigners.

Ian Daley, regional officer with health trade union Unison, said the severance package offered by the trust was a "cheeky scheme" which undercut a national redundancy package negotiated with the NHS at national level by the union.

"We will be telling our members they shouldn't have anything to do with this," he said.

"It will be used on a selective basis to get rid of people on the cheap.

"We are opposed to redundancies, but if people are made redundant, they should be paid the proper rate."

Mr Daley said the trust had been made aware of the union's opposition to the scheme, but had decided to press ahead anyway.

"One of our concerns is that the remaining workforce will have to pick up the extra work," he said.

A spokesman for the trust insisted the scheme was entirely optional and denied that it was the same as a redundancy scheme.

She said: "We need to constantly review our workforce requirements.

"This is a purely voluntary scheme whereby members of staff can see if this suits their personal situation and, if it does, they can apply.

"All applications are judged on their merits and there is no automatic entitlement. This is not the same as a redundancy scheme."

At Bishop Auckland General Hospital, built five years ago at a cost of £67m, a Save Our Hospital Group has already been set up following several ward closures.

David Fryer, a spokesman for the group, said he feared that patients, as well as staff, would suffer from the cuts.

He said: "Our first concern is that this has been done to balance the books.

"If they have to balance the books, the only conclusion that we can draw is that staff are having to go because there's not enough money. Is that going to affect patient care?

"Members of staff have approached us and they are agog. They don't know how many jobs are going to go, but it could be the beginning of a big cull."