The growing number of NHS job cuts could spark industrial action, the Unison union warned yesterday, as Prime Minister Tony Blair was forced to defend his beleaguered Health Secretary Patricia Hewitt.
Some 7,000 job losses in the National Health Service have been announced in recent months but the Royal College of Nursing estimates the figure could hit 13,000, a third of them nurses.
The redundancies are being caused by an estimated overspend of £623 million this year, despite record investment by the government.
The NHS has a workforce of some 1.3 million people overall, making it the largest employer in Europe.
Its annual budget is over £80 billion so the deficit represents less than one per cent but the government's critics have questioned how the service could be making redundancies at a time of record spending.
They say the redundancies are the result of government mis-management and on Sunday, Ms Hewitt sparked an uproar when she dismissed talk of a crisis and said the NHS had in fact enjoyed its "best year ever".
Mr Blair, at his monthly press conference yesterday, said he supported Ms Hewitt and the work she was doing.
Asked whether she was the right person to see through reforms to the health service, he replied: "Absolutely, because she's the person who's taking through a difficult change programme and standing up for what is right.
"Waiting lists have never been lower since the health service records began, accident and emergency improvement has dramatically improved in the last few years, cancer and cardiac care are the best they've been in the NHS, and we have record numbers of extra doctors and nurses. These are facts."
The row has dominated the media in recent weeks, with Ms Hewitt's comments making front page news at the weekend, and Unison, the country's biggest labour union, said yesterday it will support workers who vote to strike.
"We are being told that somehow jobs will disappear or left unfilled without patients and staff feeing the pain - what utter nonsense," Unison chief Dave Prentice said in a speech.
"Unison cannot stand by and watch staff suffer in this climate of fear. We will be supporting members who feel that they have no option left other than industrial action to protect jobs and services."