Wes Streeting Cuts NHS HQ Staff Numbers In Half

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

The ‘bonfire of bureaucrats’ is targeted at removing duplication across the organisations after their labor forces swelled throughout the pandemic.

Health secretary Wes Streeting is also seeking to tighten his control over the NHS, deliver better value for taxpayers and free-up cash for the frontline.

Three more NHS England board members the other day announced they will give up at the end of this month, following the recent resignations of chief executive Amanda Pritchard and nationwide medical director Professor Sir Stephen Powis.

The most recent leaders to join the exodus are Julian Kelly, the primary financial officer, Emily Lawson, the chief running officer, and Steve Russell, the chief delivery officer and national director for vaccination and screening.

NHS England is the nationwide quango charged with overseeing the everyday running of the health service and its long-lasting technique.

It was developed by the Tories in 2013 to provide it greater political independence 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 finest possible use of taxpayers’ money to support frontline services, the size of NHS England will be drastically lowered and might see the size of the centre decline by around half.’

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

Health secretary Wes Streeting is also looking for to tighten his control over the NHS, amidst 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 running officer Emily Lawson (right) are amongst the current managers to sign up with the exodus

Sir Jim Mackey, who will become interim primary executive at the start of April, will establish a transition group within NHS England to ‘lead the radical reduction and reshaping of the centre with the Department of Health and Social Care’.

He said: ‘We understand that today’s news is unsettling for our personnel, and we have substantial obstacles and changes ahead.’We aim to have a shift group in location to begin on the first April 2025 to help lead us through this period.’

Ms Pritchard said in a note to personnel, seen by the Health Service Journal: ‘In the last couple of weeks, I have actually stated I think the time is best for extreme reform of the size and functions of the centre to finest assistance regional NHS systems and service providers to deliver for clients and drive the government’s reform concerns.’

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

Mr Streeting stated: ‘I wish to put on record my thanks to Julian, Emily and Steve for their commitment as public servants, and their operate in particular helping steer the NHS through the pandemic.

‘I have actually enjoyed dealing with each of them over the last eight months and I’ve been impressed by their ability and concentrate on delivering improvement for patients and personnel.

‘We are going into a period of critical transformation for our NHS. ‘With a more powerful relationship between the Department for Health and Social Care and NHS England, we will interact with the speed and seriousness needed to fulfill the scale of the challenge.’

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

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

Professor Stephen Powis, the NHS national medical director, announced recently he would step down this summer season

UNISON head of health Helga Pile stated: ‘Staff will be not surprisingly worried about this sudden change of direction.

‘The number of redundancies being sought at NHS England has trebled in simply a matter of weeks.

‘Em ployees there have actually already been through the mill with unlimited rounds of reorganisation. What was currently a difficult possibility has now become more like a nightmare.

‘Fixing a broken NHS needs an appropriate plan, with main bodies resourced and managed successfully so local services are supported.

‘Rushing through cuts brings a threat of creating a further, more complicated mess and could eventually hold the NHS back. That would let down the very people who need it most, the patients.’

Matthew Taylor, primary executive of the NHS Confederation, stated: ‘These changes are taking place at a scale and speed not anticipated to begin with, but offered the huge cost savings that the NHS requires to make this year it makes sense to minimize areas of duplication at a national level and for the NHS to be led by a leaner centre.

‘NHS England has actually currently provided significant savings and helped to provide improvements in performance, however national bodies and local NHS leaders know that more is needed this year.

‘These changes represent the greatest improving of the NHS’s nationwide architecture in more than a decade. It is essential that local NHS organisations and other bodies are associated with this change as the immediate next actions become clearer, so that an optimal operating design can be created.

‘This should have to do with doing things differently for the benefit of regional communities as both clients and taxpayers, in addition to for staff ahead of annual study results on Thursday that are yet once again anticipated to reveal the severe challenges they face.’

Wes Streeting