JOBS could be lost under new plans to pool health management teams in Oxfordshire with those in Milton Keynes and Buckinghamshire.

The Government has announced all Primary Care Trusts (PCTs), such as NHS Oxfordshire, need to join forces so management staff can be shared in staffing emergencies.

In July, the Government announced it would abolish all PCTs and Strategic Health Authorities (SHAs) by April 2013, and groups of GPs would instead commission care.

Ronan O’Connor, director of communications at Cowley-based NHS Oxfordshire, said the instruction to form the so-called clusters came after a number of PCT staff left to find other work.

Since the NHS shake-up was announced, 20 people have left the commissioning arm of NHS Oxfordshire because of retirement, voluntary resignation and end of fixed term contracts.

The commissioning unit employs more than 300 staff.

Mr O’Connor said: “Clustering will pull together PCTs to make sure they continue to be resilient during the transition phase.

“Boards will still have statutory responsibilities.

“It means that if senior members of staff in PCTs start to leave we could potentially pool our resources.”

He said there were no plans to change or move buildings as part of the new structure.

But Mr O’Connor could not guarantee jobs would not be lost in the new framework.

The South Central region will be split into three clusters. Oxfordshire will share resources with Milton Keynes and Buckinghamshire; Southampton, Hampshire, the Isle of Wight and Portsmouth will merge, and Berkshire West and Berkshire East will be in a third cluster.

Each cluster will have a single executive team in place as soon as possible, and decisions about the structure of the remainder of the clusters will follow in the new year.

The chief executive of South Central Strategic Health Authority, Andrea Young, said: “It’s critical that we get the balance right between what can be done most effectively as a cluster and what needs to be done locally.

“The arrangements do not mean that local relationships will be any less important than they are now.

“In fact, the clusters will ensure there is strong support for GP consortia at a local level, and close working relationships with local authorities as they take on responsibility for public health.”