More than 56,000 NHS jobs have been lost or face the axe - double the figure of a year ago, nursing leaders have said as they warned of an impending "crisis".
Data from the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) found 56,058 jobs have been axed or face the cut across the UK.
In April, the figure was almost 40,000 and last November stood at just 27,000. The figures include redundancies that have already been announced or are in the pipeline, and jobs that have not been filled once people leave or retire.
The information is taken from NHS trusts, including analysis of board meeting papers, forward planning, annual and strategy documents.
On top of job losses, the RCN warned of posts being downgraded - where jobs are reclassified by NHS trusts to save money. Staff can be expected to perform the same duties for less pay or less skilled workers are brought in.
Last month, Health Secretary Andrew Lansley told MPs he was not aware of any jobs in the NHS being downgraded in this way.
The RCN said the NHS was heading for "crisis point", saying services and staffing levels were being "severely affected". It warned of "potentially disastrous consequences for patient care" from the cuts.
In England alone, 48,029 NHS posts are set to be cut or have been lost, up on the 30,873 seven months ago. This is the equivalent of closing some of the biggest hospitals trusts in the country - such as Heart of England NHS Foundation Trust - more than four times over.
The Government has promised to protect frontline services. At the same time, the NHS has also been tasked with finding £20 billion in efficiency savings.
However RCN chief executive Dr Peter Carter said there was no evidence that the £20 billion in efficiency savings demanded by the Government had been reinvested in patient care, as promised.