Hi Fuzzy,
The likelihood of 800 redundancies has been publicised where I work, only after a few months ago being told that our NHS trust was "on-target" financially, now to be informed we are £21,000,000 in debt, so I can appreciate your concerns. Like yourself we've been told that the process will take weeks not months.
I'm assuming you're an NHS employee that isn't employed where I work. Perhaps anyone in the situation where the deadline for redundancies is being given should start applying for any suitable vacancies in the area where they live, or even further afield, just in case there's bad news.
If I were in a similar position, applying for posts just in case the worst happens in June, I might ask my prospective employer not to contact my current employer until after interviews, etc, i.e. tick the appropriate box on the application form, just on the off-chance that this has an influence on who's considered for redundancy - if you get my drift.
Job applications for NHS vacancies that're posted tomorrow probably wouldn't be processed to the invitation for interview stage until after mid-June so I guess it's a headstart. If the threat of redundancy disappears the application(s) can always be rescinded.
If I subsequently found that redundancy were definitely on the cards and my job application were successful then I'd probably be able to make arrangements convenient to both prospective and current employer. It's likely that I'd be redundant and serving my notice when offered another post, at best, given June as a deadline.
I would also send my CV to the recruitment agencies to see if they had anything that would suit me I suppose. There do seem to be quite a few vacancies for Medical Engineering around at the moment so I wonder if jobs of this nature will be under the spotlight in this round of NHS redundancies - no doubt it won't be the last.
