STAFF at an NHS mental health trust facing swingeing job cuts say they are more stressed than during the pandemic.

Unite members at the East London NHS Foundation Trust (ELFT) say directors are avoiding public scrutiny over plans to cut up to 365 jobs in a bid to save £29 million in the current financial year.

A senior community nurse said staff “feel all goodwill between senior leadership and staff has been lost.”

A ward administrator added: “Staff did everything possible to maintain a service during Covid and now are even more stressed and bewildered due to a lack of honest engagement from management.”

A staff side official said the directors “appear to lack any overall plan, or awareness of the consequences of their cuts.”

A Child and Adolescent Mental Health worker called on the government to stop the “savage cuts” amid an “unprecedented crisis in mental health among children and young people.”

The trust was contacted for comment.