MEDICAL groups fear the loss of up to 234 health jobs in the Far North will have a severe impact on patient care, despite assurances frontline services will not be affected. 

Cairns and Hinterland Hospital and Health Service staff will know tomorrow whether they face retrenchment as part of a restructure to shave $20 million from the region's health budget.

"We did everything we possibly could to avoid losing jobs and having to reduce the size of our workforce was the last resort," health district chief executive Julie Hartley-Jones, who announced the news at a series of meetings with employees yesterday, said.

"It is terribly distressing for people to receive the news that their jobs have been restructured," she said.

The full report appears in today's The Cairns Post. 

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