Top-rated mental health trust asked to save £24m — SkimNews
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- East London NHS Foundation Trust must make £24.1m in savings this year (~2% of its budget), with up to 330 of its 6,000 posts potentially affected by the cuts.
- Union Unite plans to ballot members on strike action, with regional officer Gary Boodhna saying: "You cannot take 5% of the workforce out of an NHS trust and pretend it will not affect services."
- Trust management plans to redesign nine front-line services for 2026-27, including CAMHS, addiction services, adult mental health crisis and community services, and talking therapies.
- Labour MP Apsana Begum (Poplar & Limehouse) wrote to the trust warning the cuts are "particularly targeted towards mental health care services that are of equal importance to patients."
- The Department of Health and Social Care said the government is due to invest a record £16.1bn in mental health services in England in 2026-27, up from £15.7bn in 2025-26, and will publish a mental health plan later this year.
- ELFT holds the Care Quality Commission's highest "outstanding" rating, made £37m in efficiency savings last year, and its managers have previously been placed in charge of other struggling organisations including Norfolk & Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust.
Why it matters: ELFT told the BBC it has a "responsibility to live within its means" yet serves 1.8 million people and holds one of the Care Quality Commission's highest ratings — meaning the cuts land at a well-regarded trust already pressed to deliver. The union and a Labour MP argue frontline mental health services will deteriorate, while the DHSC pledges a record £16.1bn mental health budget for 2026-27, exposing a gap between national headline investment and what individual trusts can actually spend.
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