One Church of England bishop has reacted with outrage at proposals by the Worcestershire Acute Hospitals Trust to make six chaplains redundant.

The Bishop of Worcester, the Rt Rev Peter Selby, called the decision ‘a piece of destruction’, according to the Church of England newspaper.

The cut-backs are part of a re-structuring within the Trust, which is trying to overcome a £30 million deficit in its budget.

John Rostill, the Chief Executive of the Trust admitted that some of the actions would cause distress, but he said there was an absolute need to maintain frontline clinical services, which must remain “paramount”.

In the redundancies, two Anglican chaplains, three Roman Catholics and a Methodist will lose their positions, and will mean that just one chaplain will now cover all three hospitals in Worcestershire.

Bishop Selby told BBC Radio 4: “At a time when the trust is causing huge disruption to the lives of staff and patients, the chaplains’ role in staff support makes a difference, hidden but real, to the whole life of our hospitals.

“The hospital — and that means your health and the health of the country — is in the hands of the accountants. Individually they may be as caring as any of us. But in the task they have undertaken they leave their humanity at the door as they undertake the ‘big project’,” he said.

Rostill explained though that the Trust’s recovery plan meant it needed to save £8 million, and to improve general efficiency by £7 million by next March, report the Church of England newspaper.

Rostill concluded, “We will continue our discussions with religious leaders to seek to minimise the impact of this decision on patients and staff and work with them to provide alternative support and care.”