East London NHS Foundation Trust, Rated "Outstanding" by the Health Watchdog, Must Save £24

East London NHS Foundation Trust, rated "outstanding" by the health watchdog, must save £24.1m this year — about 2% of its budget — potentially cutting up to 330 posts from its 6,000-strong workforce. The trust, serving 1.8 million people across east London and Bedfordshire from 120 sites, plans to redesign nine front-line services for 2026-27, including child and adolescent mental health services, addiction services, and talking therapies. Unite union regional officer Gary Boodhna said: "You cannot take 5% of the workforce out of an NHS trust and pretend it will not affect services.

Staff are already stretched to breaking point. Labour MP Apsana Begum, representing Poplar & Limehouse, has written to the trust demanding a risk assessment, saying: "I am concerned that these cuts are particularly targeted towards mental health care services that are of equal importance to patients. The trust said it had "a responsibility to live within its means" while protecting care quality.

Last year, ELFT made £37m in efficiency savings. Unite plans to ballot members on strike action over the changes.