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 unveiled yesterday in the middle of extreme cost-cutting measures.
The ‘bonfire of bureaucrats’ is aimed at getting rid of duplication across the organisations after their labor forces swelled throughout the pandemic.
Health secretary Wes Streeting is also looking for to tighten his control over the NHS, deliver better worth for taxpayers and free-up cash for the frontline.
Three more NHS England board members yesterday revealed they will quit at the end of this month, following the current resignations of chief executive Amanda Pritchard and national medical director Professor Sir Stephen Powis.
The newest leaders to join the exodus are Julian Kelly, the chief 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 entrusted with managing the daily running of the health service and its long-term method.
It was developed by the Tories in 2013 to give it higher political self-reliance however Mr Streeting is keen to restore tighter control from within his Department.
NHS England stated in a declaration: ‘As part of the need to make finest possible use of taxpayers’ money to support frontline services, the size of NHS England will be drastically minimized and might see the size of the centre reduction by around half.’
The 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 also looking for to tighten his control over the NHS, in the middle of 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 delivery officer Steve Russell (left) and chief running officer Emily Lawson (right) are among the latest bosses to join the exodus
Sir Jim Mackey, who will become interim primary executive at the start of April, will establish a transition team within NHS England to ‘lead the radical reduction and reshaping of the centre with the Department of Health and Social Care’.
He stated: ‘We understand that today’s news is upsetting for our personnel, and we have substantial difficulties and changes ahead.’We aim to have a transition group in location to start on the 1st April 2025 to help lead us through this period.’
Ms Pritchard said in a note to staff, seen by the Health Service Journal: ‘In the last couple of weeks, I have actually stated I think the time is right for extreme reform of the size and functions of the centre to best support regional NHS systems and suppliers to deliver for patients and drive the federal government’s reform priorities.’
She stated Mr Streeting had asked Sir Jim and Penny Dash, the incoming NHS England chair, to ‘lead this work, delivering considerable changes in our relationship with DHSC to eradicate duplication’.
Mr Streeting stated: ‘I ‘d like to put on record my thanks to Julian, Emily and Steve for their commitment as public servants, and their operate in specific assisting steer the NHS through the pandemic.
‘I have actually enjoyed working with each of them over the last 8 months and I have actually been impressed by their skill and concentrate on providing enhancement for patients and staff.
‘We are going into a period of critical change for our NHS. ‘With a more powerful relationship between the Department for Health and Social Care and NHS England, we will collaborate with the speed and seriousness needed to meet the scale of the challenge.’
Since June in 2015, NHS England used simply under 15,000 full-time comparable personnel, including long-term, short-term and consultancy. The Department of Health and Social Care had around 9,000, including the UK Health Security Agency. These are both around 30 per cent more than in January 2020.
NHS England chief financial officer Julian Kelly has also included his name to leaders resigning from their positions
Professor Stephen Powis, the NHS national medical director, announced recently he would step down this summer
UNISON head of health Helga Pile stated: ‘Staff will be naturally worried about this abrupt modification of direction.
‘The variety of redundancies being looked for at NHS England has actually trebled in simply a matter of weeks.
‘Em ployees there have actually currently been through the mill with of reorganisation. What was currently a stressful possibility has actually now ended up being more like a nightmare.
‘Fixing a damaged NHS needs a proper strategy, with main bodies resourced and managed efficiently so regional services are supported.
‘Rushing through cuts brings a threat of creating a further, more complicated mess and might ultimately hold the NHS back. That would let down the very people who require it most, the clients.’
Matthew Taylor, president of the NHS Confederation, said: ‘These changes are happening at a scale and speed not anticipated to begin with, however provided the big savings that the NHS needs to make this year it makes sense to minimize locations of duplication at a national level and for the NHS to be led by a leaner centre.
‘NHS England has actually already provided significant savings and helped to deliver improvements in performance, but nationwide bodies and local NHS leaders understand that more is required this year.
‘These changes represent the biggest improving of the NHS’s nationwide architecture in more than a years. It is essential that regional NHS organisations and other bodies are included in this transformation as the immediate next steps become clearer, so that an optimum operating model can be produced.
‘This must have to do with doing things differently for the benefit of local neighborhoods as both patients and taxpayers, as well as for staff ahead of annual survey results on Thursday that are yet once again anticipated to show the extreme obstacles they deal with.’
Wes Streeting