ALMOST 600 staff employed by York Hospital's trust are facing pay cuts of thousands of pounds a year or changes to their terms and conditions.

Some staff currently receive Recruitment and Retention Premia awards (RRPs), of up to £3,200, which were introduced to help encourage staff to stay within the service by 'topping up' their normal salary.

However, cutbacks within the NHS mean changes to the pay scales are happening, and it was announced this week the RRP would be phased out within the next three years.

The Press understands this affects about 65 workers at the York, Scarborough and Bridlington hospitals, with payments gradually reducing over three years from £3,200 until they end completely.

At the same time, around 520 cleaners are facing changes to their terms and conditions, in an effort to save around £600,000 a year.

A spokeswoman for York Teaching Hospital NHS Foundation Trust said: "The RRP was awarded nationally for maintenance craftsmen after changes to the NHS pay structure in 2004 to bring them in line with national standards.

"The scheme has been phased out nationally and York Teaching Hospital NHS Foundation Trust is now coming into line with this. As a responsible employer the Trust has taken the decision to phase the scheme out over three years. This does not affect an employee’s annual increment which will still be awarded where applicable."

The spokeswoman said recent employees did not qualify for the RRP, and the changes would only affect "a relatively small number".

This week, The Press also received a report suggesting the Trust were set to change terms and conditions for 521 cleaners at its hospitals.

If the changes take place, staff at various sites will be put on rotas working a maximum of six hours a day, in an effort to save the Trust about £600,000 a year.

One worker, who did not want to be named, said "the proposals will leave wards dirty and open to infections", and that staff had already been told to stop cleaning offices.

A Trust spokesperson said: "The Trust has in recent years taken on a number of new hospitals each with different shift patterns and rotas for cleaning. An external audit was done to establish the number of hours needed to meet the National Cleaning Standards for each ward. We are considering what changes need to be made to our rotas as a result of this audit. Staff will be consulted on any changes. Their NHS terms and conditions will not be affected."

The hospital trust features as a case study on the website for i-clean, a company that aims to improve efficiency and reduce costs in cleaning for organisations.

On its website, the company says that by analysing documents and visiting the hospitals, it was able to conduct a trust-wide review that identified "the potential for significant savings" by revising risk categories and frequencies.

Andy Fairgrieve, the hospital's head of estates and facilities, is quoted on the website saying the review had allowed them to identify areas of discrepancies and to reduce costs.

But a second cleaner who phoned The Press on Sunday said: "Wards will be left filthy and there will be increased infections, and it's all to do with saving money."