The cash-strapped trust, which is also hiking parking charges, is looking to reduce its “pay budget” by £45 million, suggesting it is higher-paid employees who face the axe.

EKH says the “phased changes” will take place over the coming months.

KentOnline understands that staff leaders and department heads across the trust are being tasked with assessing and producing reports on job roles and staffing levels.

Roles are being axed across the country in the wake of the government’s decision to abolish NHS England in March in a bid to cut down on duplication and streamline services.

A spokesperson for East Kent Hospitals said: “We value the important contribution of everyone who works for our trust.

“Like trusts across the country, we need to reduce our costs, which includes reducing our total pay budget of £742 million by £45 million.

“As much as possible, we aim to do this through natural turnover, restricting recruitment particularly in non-clinical areas and reducing our reliance on higher-cost bank and agency staffing.

“All changes to roles will first be assessed for their impact on safety and quality to ensure that patient care is not affected.

“Where posts may become at risk, staff will be supported and offered alternative roles within the trust wherever possible. We expect the number of redundancies to be less than 1% of our workforce.”

The trust - which also runs the Kent and Canterbury Hospital, Buckland Hospital in Dover and the Royal Victoria Hospital in Folkestone - has been working to reduce its deficit since the start of 2024.

In the last financial year, it managed to find £49 million of savings to achieve a planned overspend figure of £86 million.

In order to reduce this overspend to £64 million in 2025/26, it needs to make further savings of £80 million.

KentOnline understands the trust aims to reduce its reliance on bank and agency staff while also cutting the number of roles.

The news follows EKH’s decision to hike parking charges for patients and staff from July 1 - a move branded “absolutely disgusting” by critics.

Employees will pay 10% more, while patients and visitors will see fees hiked by 20p per hour.

The UK’s biggest union, Unison and Ashford MP Sojan Joseph have both asked EKH to reconsider the decision.

The job cuts process at the Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells Trust started last Monday for those working in the corporate sector at its two sites. It is believed up to 10% of its 1,500 workforce could be affected.

At the Dartford and Gravesham Trust, no decisions have yet been made on potential job cuts.

In a statement, a spokesperson said: “We are currently reviewing services across the trust as part of our work to improve efficiency and ensure long-term sustainability.

“No decisions have been made at this stage regarding our workforce.

“We are fully committed to engaging with our staff and trade unions throughout this process and will continue to do so as the service review progresses.

“Any proposed changes will be shared with our staff first, and we will update you once we can do so.”

The Medway NHS Foundation Trust has confirmed there are no plans for job cuts.