HEALTH bosses have issued an apology after shocked radiology staff were wrongly told that 60 posts were to be axed in the next four years.

Pennine Acute Trust, which runs four hospitals including Fairfield General and North Manchester General, say it appears the announcement was made by a manager without authorisation.

And Pennine also deny that staff will have to reapply for their jobs on an annual basis.

A Fairfield Hospital radiologist, who asked not to be named, told the Bury Times: “We were informed the jobs would be going between now and 2015. And we were also told we’d have to reapply for our jobs. This was dreadful news.”

But a Trust spokesman said: “We understand a manager within the radiology department has held a series of meetings with staff about efficiency savings and staffing levels without authorisation from their divisional director. The circumstances of these meetings are now being investigated.

“We are obviously very disappointed and regret this has happened, and most importantly, we wish to apologise to the staff who attended these meetings for the anxiety and upset this has caused.”

He said no proposals for disinvestment or job reductions in radiology services had been received or formally considered.

The spokesman said: “It is common knowledge that, like all NHS trusts, we will have to make significant cost savings in 2011/12.

“In our case this is around £45 million from our total budget of £580 million.

“This will mean looking at a range of measures to reduce costs and get the best value for money while continuing to provide safe clinical services.

“We have never had to resort to compulsory redundancies in the past and we do not see any reason why we would need to resort to such a measure now.

“We will set out to manage any reduction in posts that may be necessary by redeploying staff into existing vacancies or where we are incurring costs for temporary staff or overtime.”