Jobs will be lost at WA’s new flagship Fiona Stanley Hospital after the Health Department last night said it was cutting staffing levels at three Perth hospitals.

It comes just over a year after the $2 billion hospital in Murdoch opened, beset with delays and cost blowouts.

Royal Perth Hospital, FSH and Fremantle Hospital will be restructured to reduce staff.

The department said last night the hospitals were “overstaffed for their activity levels and exceeding their budgets”. It did not say how many jobs would go but hospital staff fear it could be as many 100 full-time equivalent positions.

A department spokeswoman said safety and quality in the hospitals “will not be compromised in any way”.

“WA is currently the second most expensive State in Australia in its delivery of health care,” she said.

She said hospitals have been provided with “robust and detailed information” about their staffing levels and how to cut them back.

Vacancies have been filled with fixed-term contracts for some time, while the department said it was “trying to ensure permanent roles can be accommodated in the revised workforce”.

Overtime, recall, new rostering practices and the use of temporary and agency staff will also be used to help reduce staffing levels.

“Hospitals around Australia have shown that it is possible to maintain the highest possible standards using lower staffing levels than currently in place,” the spokeswoman said.

WA Health has been under pressure from the Government to cut spending. This year, salary growth across the public sector has averaged one per cent, while health salaries have ballooned 8 per cent.