Wes Streeting Cuts NHS HQ Staff Numbers In Half

Plans to cut staff numbers in half at NHS England and the Department of Health and Social Care were revealed yesterday amidst drastic cost-cutting measures.

The ‘bonfire of bureaucrats’ is targeted at removing duplication across the organisations after their workforces swelled during the pandemic.

Health secretary Wes Streeting is likewise looking for to tighten his control over the NHS, deliver much better value for taxpayers and for the frontline.

Three more NHS England board members yesterday revealed they will give up at the end of this month, following the recent resignations of president Amanda Pritchard and national medical director Professor Sir Stephen Powis.

The current leaders to join the exodus are Julian Kelly, the chief monetary officer, Emily Lawson, the chief running officer, and Steve Russell, the chief delivery officer and nationwide director for vaccination and screening.

NHS England is the national quango tasked with supervising the daily running of the health service and its long-term technique.

It was established by the Tories in 2013 to provide it greater political self-reliance but Mr Streeting is eager to gain back tighter control from within his Department.

NHS England stated in a statement: ‘As part of the requirement to make best possible usage of taxpayers’ money to support frontline services, the size of NHS England will be drastically minimized and could see the size of the centre decrease by around half.’

The much deeper staffing cuts follow a reduction of about 4,000 to 6,000 staff members at NHS England over the past two years and about 800 at the Department of Health and Social Care.

Health secretary Wes Streeting is likewise looking for to tighten his control over the NHS, amid plans to cut staff numbers in half at NHS England and the Department of Health

Former NHS England chief Amanda Pritchard will step down from her position at the end of this month

NHS England chief shipment officer Steve Russell (left) and chief operating officer Emily Lawson (best) are amongst the most current managers to join the exodus

Sir Jim Mackey, who will become interim president at the start of April, will set up a shift group within NHS England to ‘lead the extreme reduction and improving of the centre with the Department of Health and Social Care’.

He stated: ‘We understand that today’s news is unsettling for our staff, and we have substantial difficulties and modifications ahead.’We intend to have a transition group in location to start on the first April 2025 to assist lead us through this duration.’

Ms Pritchard stated in a note to personnel, seen by the Health Service Journal: ‘In the last number of weeks, I have stated I believe the time is right for extreme reform of the size and functions of the centre to finest support local NHS systems and suppliers to provide for patients and drive the government’s reform top priorities.’

She stated Mr Streeting had asked Sir Jim and Penny Dash, the inbound NHS England chair, to ‘lead this work, providing considerable modifications in our relationship with DHSC to get rid of duplication’.

Mr Streeting stated: ‘I ‘d like to put on record my thanks to Julian, Emily and Steve for their dedication as public servants, and their operate in specific assisting steer the NHS through the pandemic.

‘I have actually delighted in working with each of them over the last 8 months and I’ve been impressed by their ability and concentrate on providing improvement for clients and staff.

‘We are getting in a period of important change for our NHS. ‘With a more powerful relationship between the Department for Health and Social Care and NHS England, we will work together with the speed and seriousness required to satisfy the scale of the obstacle.’

As of June in 2015, NHS England employed simply under 15,000 full-time equivalent personnel, including permanent, momentary and consultancy. The Department of Health and Social Care had around 9,000, including the UK Health Security Agency. These are both around 30 percent more than in January 2020.

NHS England primary financial officer Julian Kelly has actually likewise included his name to leaders resigning from their positions

Professor Stephen Powis, the NHS nationwide medical director, revealed recently he would step down this summertime

UNISON head of health Helga Pile said: ‘Staff will be naturally worried about this unexpected change of direction.

‘The variety of redundancies being sought at NHS England has actually trebled in just a matter of weeks.

‘Em ployees there have currently been through the mill with limitless rounds of reorganisation. What was already a stressful possibility has actually now ended up being more like a problem.

‘Fixing a broken NHS requires an appropriate strategy, with central bodies resourced and managed successfully so local services are supported.

‘Rushing through cuts brings a threat of developing a further, more complicated mess and might ultimately hold the NHS back. That would let down the very people who require it most, the patients.’

Matthew Taylor, president of the NHS Confederation, stated: ‘These changes are taking place at a scale and rate not prepared for to begin with, but given the big cost savings that the NHS needs to make this year it makes good sense to decrease locations of duplication at a national level and for the NHS to be led by a leaner centre.

‘NHS England has actually currently provided considerable savings and assisted to deliver improvements in performance, but national bodies and local NHS leaders understand that more is required this year.

‘These changes represent the most significant reshaping of the NHS’s nationwide architecture in more than a decade. It is necessary that regional NHS organisations and other bodies are associated with this improvement as the immediate next steps become clearer, so that an optimal operating model can be developed.

‘This need to be about doing things in a different way for the advantage of regional neighborhoods as both patients and taxpayers, in addition to for personnel ahead of yearly study results on Thursday that are yet once again anticipated to show the extreme difficulties they deal with.’

Wes Streeting