Teignbridge NHS Primary Care Trust's outgoing chief executive has reassured patients that it will be 'business as usual' after her organisation is consigned to the history books this weekend. But Pam Smith has also said that compulsory job cuts cannot be ruled out, as the government has demanded countywide savings of at least £30 million in the primary healthcare budget. Mrs Smith was given the top job when the PCT was created in 2000 and before that she had managed its predecessor, Teignbridge Primary Care Group. But as from Sunday, the new, larger Devon PCT will take over and Teignbridge, along with five other PCTs, will cease to be. The government hopes that efficiencies of scale will deliver savings of 15 per cent or more on the county's annual bill of £200 million. The new chief executive, Kevin Snee, has not yet made himself available for interview and details of the new organisation remain sketchy. Although it is known Mr Snee will be based in Dartington temporarily, no operational details have yet to be established, prompting concerns that a management vacuum could develop. Mrs Smith, who was given the job of overseeing the handover, acknowledged that it had been a considerable task. 'The government set quite a tight timetable,' she said. 'We have worked very hard to ensure a really robust transition period and to make sure that no one slips through the net.' Mrs Smith said that although there was still only 'the embryo of a new organisation', major operational changes were unlikely before the government's money -saving deadline of April 2008 'On Monday it will be business as usual,' she said, and urged patients to continue using health services exactly as they had done. She said it was up to the new PCT to decide how to run itself and that a 'breathing space' had been written into the handover. Speaking about the need to save money, Mrs Smith said that she was 'pretty confident' that natural wastage and post freezing should put the new organisation on target, although that could not be guaranteed. 'It's a difficult process with uncertainty for the people concerned,' she said. The posts most likely to be axed are administrative ones, such as press officers and finance managers.
