The Princess Royal in Farnborough

Hospital sell-offs, more than 1,000 job losses and employing less qualified staff are money-saving options revealed in South London Healthcare Trust’s five-year financial plan.

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The “confidential” 100-page document seen by the Bromley Times and released under the Freedom of Information Act, paints a glum picture of the trust’s future and discusses in unprecedented detail the savings selling Queen Mary’s and Orpington Hospital would make.

It admits that since SLHT was created in 2009 – a merger of three existing trusts – it has only been able to survive because of non-repayable handouts from the Department of Health.

According to the report, patient safety is at risk because of the financial targets the trust is obliged to meet, and suppliers are withholding goods because the trust cannot afford to pay for them.

The document states selling Queen Mary’s would save around £12m per year – detailing for the first time that if that option is chosen all staff would be made redundant and not transferred to the trust’s other sites at the Princess Royal in Farnborough, Queen Elizabeth in Woolwich or Orpington Hospital. Selling around a third of Queen Elizabeth’s land would make between £15m and £20m and the sale of Orpington Hospital raise £12m.

Health campaigner Dave Mott said: “It shows the only way the trust can break even is by selling Queen Mary’s and Orpington Hospital. It’s a nightmare.”

The trust forecasts a cull from 5,838 to 4,755 full time posts. Around £2.9million would be saved in 2012/13 by cutting the time nurses spend with patients.

Management consultants Ernst and Young found the Trust is paying £60m in PFI repayments for the Princess Royal and Queen Elizabeth – £15.8m more annually than if it had been government-funded.

A trust spokesman said: “We have said all along that we need to make £30m savings from our workforce spending and that the numbers of posts that we reduce by are dependent on how we reorganise our services and workforce together. The higher figure estimated over five years reflects an estimate based on predictions of inflation, income and work to integrate more services with local GPs and providers over the coming years.”