Union officials said staff and the public deserved an apology

Scarborough and North East Yorkshire NHS Trust, which runs hospitals in Scarborough and Bridlington, had warned it intended to cut 600 jobs.

Campaigners and union officials had said the cuts would devastate services.

But staff were told on Thursday that severe losses had been prevented and only 50 jobs would be cut.

'Common sense prevails'

In my view the trust board owe the staff and the public an apology for their inept handling of this matter John Cafferty, Unison

Trust chief executive Iain McInnes said savings of �8m had already been identified, and efforts were now being made to find a further �2m in savings.

Unison's regional officer, Ray Gray, said the union welcomed the breakthrough and was confident the required �10m of savings could be made without compulsory redundancies.

He said: "At last common sense prevails.

"We very much welcome this news which follows on from weeks of sustained pressure from Unison, staff, patients and members of the public in Scarborough and surrounding areas."

But the union criticised the trust's handling of the issue, saying it should have consulted trade unions before formally announcing the planned 600 job cuts.

John Cafferty, Unison's head of health, said: "If this process had been managed properly much of the anxiety, stress and anguish caused to staff, patients and the public in north-east Yorkshire and the resulting anger could have been avoided.