More than half of almost 10 000 NHS posts that have been identified as being under threat of being cut in the next few years in England are clinical, the Royal College of Nursing says.

The BMA is also worried about job losses and service cutbacks as a result.

The college has published new figures from a detailed analysis of 21 NHS trusts that show that 9650 posts could be cut and that 54% of those are clinical posts and include doctors rather than managers and administrative staff.

Care of patients will be damaged as a result, warned the college, as a smaller staff meant fewer services and an inferior NHS. The figures showed …