UP TO 2,500 health service jobs in Northern Ireland could go within three years under an efficiency drive announced yesterday.
Health Minister Michael McGimpsey said some 700 of those jobs were nursing positions with some 900 administration and another 450 social services jobs threatened.
Savings could be made without compulsory redundancies, he added.
The Minister said he had "no choice" but to seek greater savings and efficiencies because of the financial pressures on his department. "There is no way out of this," he warned.
Catherine Harte from public sector union Unison warned of possible strike action: "Any attempt to move ahead with the cuts to frontline jobs and services will be met with strong resistance from Unison, including industrial action."
Mary Hinds of the Royal College of Nursing said: "Should this plan be implemented, we are very worried, not only about the nurses who may lose their jobs, but also for those left behind who will inevitably be under even greater pressure."
Mr McGimpsey said: "The fact is that the demands on the health service are rising every year and we have to get more efficient, because if we don't do that, we will eventually run out of money."
The Minister added that many of the administrative jobs could be accounted for under a reorganisation of the North's health trusts.
Turning to nursing jobs Mr McGimpsey said: "The fact is that around 750 nurses leave the system each year . . . so we would anticipate a reduction of about 2,000 over the next three years."
The DUP qualified its support for the policy. Iris Robinson said: "The DUP fully supports efforts to make the local health service . . . more efficient . . . We recognise the importance of freeing up money to invest in vital new service development."
SDLP Assembly member Carmel Hanna said: "The impact of these 700 job losses will be mitigated somewhat by natural wastage, people retiring early, but the impact will still be very severe.
"People are urged to 'work smarter' but people can only go so far in increasing efficiencies before basic service levels are affected."
Alliance health spokesman Kieran McCarthy blamed last year's budget introduced by DUP leader Peter Robinson when he was finance minister.
"The dire consequences of this budget, which Alliance opposed, are now apparent," he said.
"When will Peter Robinson and the DUP admit that their budget is having a massively negative impact on Northern Ireland?"