ABOUT 250 frontline jobs have been lost as part of savage cuts to the health service in East Yorkshire.
Hull and East Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Trust, which runs Hull Royal Infirmary and Castle Hill Hospital, has been told it has to save £99m by 2018, with wards having to cope with more than double the number of patients they were built for.
Now, chief executive Phil Morley has warned he would be "forced to resign" if cuts started risking patient safety.
Speaking at a council scrutiny meeting, Mr Morley said: "We are an ill health service at the moment.
"We have been told we have to make savings of £25m this year and £23m the year after.
"If it gets to the point where we can't make any more cuts without risking our patients' safety and rights, then I would be forced to resign."
The East Yorkshire health boss revealed Hull Royal Infirmary had been on the brink of closure in January because of the freezing weather.
Mr Morley said: "All of our beds were full and our acute assessment unit, which is built for 50 patients, had to cater for up to 120.
"We had to take on patients from hospitals in Scunthorpe and York, with our nurses working double shifts to ensure we stayed open.
"But, in those conditions, it became impossible for us to give our patients the level of care they deserved."
This resulted in the unit failing the patient care and welfare element of its Care Quality Commission inspection – although the hospital achieved passes in all other areas.
Mr Morley, who previously defended his hospitals in the wake of the Mid-Staffordshire scandal, said: "Despite the cutbacks, we have significantly improved the way we deal with patients.
"I think it is really important for them to be treated like human beings, not just medical cases.
"Patients are no longer left for days on trolleys in corridors and our ratio of nurses to patients is still higher than the national average.
"Our mortality rates have also improved and we have achieved all of our cancer targets for the first time in Hull's history."
He said the organisation was now in the top three performing acute trusts in the North of England for meeting national standards.
But Councillor Mary Glew said patient care in the hospitals is not as good as it used to be.
Cllr Glew, a former nurse, said: "The standard of care by nurses used to be impeccable.
"We need to look at bringing back the 'matron' figure who did her rounds at the hospital and terrified everyone senseless.
"But we need more money for staff, training and resources."
Mr Morley said the trust's saving plans included reducing expenditure across all areas of the organisation.
He said: "We are looking to reduce our estate by 20 per cent and there will be a move to going paperless, with patients' progress being recorded digitally.
"We are also hoping to get help from charitable organisations."
