The trust is cutting the equivalent of 300 jobs by axing agency staff

Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust said cuts would be made by reducing use of bank and agency staff, after finance plans were discussed on Tuesday.

Permanent staff would not be affected and there would be no redundancies, a spokesman for the Kent trust said.

The trust runs hospitals in Maidstone, Pembury and Tunbridge Wells. More than 7,000 NHS job cuts have been announced across England in recent months.

The trust issued a statement on Wednesday saying it was "looking to mirror best practice nationally around the NHS".

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It said ensuring services were fit for use would help reduce reliance on "costly agency staff".

The statement said the trust would also ensure patients were discharged efficiently and did not spend time in hospital unnecessarily as part of measures to save �16.7m this financial year.

It was also looking at how services were provided across its three hospital sites.

Chief executive Rose Gibb said: "By seeking out and introducing the most modern practices we can raise standards of care for patients and develop better ways of working for our staff.

"This will also help reduce our reliance on agency staff and enable us to focus on ensuring we have the right services for patients capable of providing the very highest standards of care possible."

Posts will be cut by April 2007 at the three hospital sites. The trust employs about 4,800 staff.

Claw back deficit

Across the South East, more than 1,000 NHS job cuts have been announced in the past three months.

St Richard's Hospital in Chichester is losing 200 posts - 10% of the workforce over the next three years.

Surrey and Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust, which manages Crawley Hospital and East Surrey Hospital, has said 400 jobs will go.

East Sussex NHS Hospitals Trust, which runs the Conquest Hospital in Hastings and Eastbourne District General, has axed up to 250 jobs

Up to 160 jobs are to go at the Medway Maritime Hospital in Gillingham, Kent.

Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals NHS Trust plans to lose 325 jobs.

And East Kent Hospitals Trust has warned of possible cuts to claw back a �35m deficit.