MORE THAN 300 nurses, carers and senior health workers are expected to protest against job cuts in Oxford today.

Organisers are calling for workers to demonstrate in Cornmarket at 5.30pm.

On Saturday, the Oxford Mail revealed 1,900 jobs could be lost at NHS Oxfordshire, the county’s primary care trust, as it struggles to save £45m.

Unions estimated the losses to be nearer 4,000, a claim denied by the PCT.

Stewards from public service trade union Unison last night said the cuts, which could amount to a 30 per cent reduction in health workers across the county, would mean longer waiting lists and a drop in patient care.

Bryan Nicholls, a nurse and Unison convenor at the Oxford Radcliffe Hospitals NHS Trust, said: “The idea that this level of cuts can be done painlessly through turnover defies belief.”

Anthea Parsons, Unison convenor at Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Mental Health NHS Trust, added: “I’m particularly concerned about young people who have just got through nurse or therapist training and are weighed down by debt – what jobs are there going to be for them?”

Mark Ladbrooke, Unison convenor for NHS Oxfordshire, said factory workers and teachers had also pledged to support today’s action.

He said: “Broad campaigns have been successful in defence of The Horton Hospital in Banbury and Oxford Community Hospital. This situation is now so severe, we need to ask members if it’s time to show some industrial muscle.”

The PCT said it would continue to recruit essential specialist clinical posts, which include doctors and nurses, but admitted the economic situation meant there would be fewer healthcare jobs going forward.