Aberdeen University has launched a consultation on redundancies within its medical school.
In July, staff were told their jobs could be at risk as part of the university’s efforts to save £1.5million by reducing spending on its school of medicine, medical science and nutrition.
Employees had been offered voluntary severance and early retirement to reduce the number of mandatory job losses, and yesterday the scheme officially closed.
But due to a low uptake of the offer, the university has already started a consultation process to determine what staff could lose their jobs in order to save the cash.
Now medical professionals worry that if the university enforces compulsory redundancies to meet its cost-cutting goals, the future of medicine in Scotland could be adversely affected.
Dr Paddy Mark, chairman of the British Medical Association (BMA) Scotland’s medical academics committee said: “The threat of compulsory redundancies amongst the medical academic staff at the University of Aberdeen is extremely concerning, and the BMA will do everything it can to support our members in resisting this course of action.
“Implementing compulsory redundancies would be an extremely short-sighted course of action, and the university should reconsider its plans.
“More widely, the threat of redundancy may have a significantly adverse effect on medicine in Scotland by threatening the teaching of medical students as well as discouraging doctors from seeking academic careers, raising doubts about the value of research and teaching amongst the doctors of the future.”
Aberdeen University would not confirm the number of jobs at risk yesterday.
A spokesman said: “The voluntary severance and early retirement scheme in place at the school of medicine, medical sciences and nutrition has closed today, and we are reviewing all applications.
“We have informed staff in the school that the university has commenced a consultation process through the Joint Consultative Committee on Redundancy Avoidance (JCCRA) with regard to criteria for compulsory redundancy due to the current progress of the scheme.
“We appreciate this situation may be unsettling for colleagues within the school, but we will continue to keep staff update and support is in place for those with questions.”
