Most trusts hope to achieve the drop in numbers through natural wastage and voluntary severance schemes, but compulsory redundancies have not been ruled out.

The staff reductions are part of wider plans to make  £20bn in cost savings nationally in the NHS.

On top of the Merseywide figures, North West jobs are also being cut, some of which will be in the Liverpool region.

The North West Ambulance service lost 84 posts between January and July 2011, with the Strategic Health Authority, NHS North West, losing a total of 51 people in the same period.

See our breakdown of the reductions below, by Hospital Trust and year. A * indicates the Trust did not have figures for that year, or the organisation will not exist.

A spokeswoman for Alder  Hey said exact numbers could not be confirmed. But the Post found the job loss figures in the hospital’s 2011/12 budget plan.

The spokeswoman  added: “The figures do not necessarily involve cutting staff numbers – savings will also be made via skill mix  changes, increased productivity, improved efficiency and redesigning the way in which work is undertaken.”

Fazakerley also initially denied projections had been made, but they were listed in  trust documents.

A spokesperson said: “Our  service and financial improvement has been led by clinical teams, to redesign services and remove duplication while maintaining safety and quality standards.

“We have minimised the impact on staff by redeployment, a mutually agreed resignation scheme and through  natural wastage involving  retirement and leavers.”

Several trusts said the information could only be obtained through a Freedom of Information request – subsequently obtained – including Wirral Hospitals trust,  which runs Arrowe Park, and Liverpool Heart and Chest Hospital.

Wirral hospitals did not give numbers but said a 5% reduction would be seen between 2012/14. This equates to an estimated 287 posts.

At Liverpool Heart and Chest Hospital in Broadgreen, 61 new staff were hired in 2011/12 because it won a contract to provide a new service.  Another 45 people were hired to fill other roles but 51 workers left due to “cost improvement plans”, so staff levels were still affected despite the overall number of positions increasing.

Bosses at the Walton  Centre, in Fazakerley, said  they were not planning to cut  staff. However patient numbers at the neurological hospital were expected to  increase during the next three years and there are no plans to hire extra workers if this happens.

A spokesman for mental  health trust Mersey Care said it was filling gaps with temporary staff: “It should also be noted that non-permanent contracted staff (mainly employed through our internal staff bank) are currently filling vacancies.

“These vacancies have not  been permanently filled at present so that going forward  we can secure permanent  posts for staff who may be at  risk of redundancy, through  staff redeployment.”

Thousands of PCT workers have also been transferred to community trusts. These have not been included in our figures as they still have NHS jobs.

PCTs will be scrapped next year as part of the Government’s controversial Health and Social Care Bill.