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 amid drastic cost-cutting procedures.

The ‘bonfire of bureaucrats’ is focused on eliminating duplication throughout the organisations after their workforces swelled during the pandemic.

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

Three more NHS England board members the other day announced they will stop at the end of this month, following the recent 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 shipment officer and nationwide director for vaccination and screening.

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

It was developed by the Tories in 2013 to provide it greater political independence but Mr Streeting is eager to restore tighter control from within his Department.

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

The deeper staffing cuts follow a reduction of about 4,000 to 6,000 employees 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 seeking to tighten his control over the NHS, in the middle of strategies to cut personnel 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 amongst the newest employers to join the exodus

Sir Jim Mackey, who will end up being interim chief executive at the start of April, will set up a transition team within NHS England to ‘lead the extreme decrease and improving of the centre with the Department of Health and Social Care’.

He said: ‘We know that today’s news is disturbing for our personnel, and we have substantial difficulties and changes ahead.’We aim to have a transition team in place to begin on the first April 2025 to help lead us through this duration.’

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

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

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

‘I’ve taken pleasure in working with each of them over the last 8 months and I have actually been impressed by their skill and focus on providing improvement for patients and staff.

‘We are entering a duration of crucial transformation for our NHS. ‘With a more powerful relationship in between the Department for Health and Social Care and NHS England, we will interact with the speed and seriousness required to satisfy the scale of the challenge.’

Since June in 2015, NHS England employed simply under 15,000 full-time comparable staff, including irreversible, 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 per cent more than in January 2020.

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

Professor Stephen Powis, the NHS national medical director, revealed last week he would step down this summertime

UNISON head of health Helga Pile stated: ‘Staff will be naturally concerned about this abrupt change of instructions.

‘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 limitless rounds of reorganisation. What was already a difficult prospect has now ended up being more like a headache.

‘Fixing a damaged NHS requires an appropriate plan, with central bodies resourced and managed effectively so regional services are supported.

‘Rushing through cuts brings a risk of developing a further, more complicated mess and could 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 modifications are happening at a scale and rate not expected to begin with, but offered the substantial savings that the NHS needs to make this year it makes good sense to minimize locations of duplication at a national level and for the NHS to be led by a leaner centre.

‘NHS England has already provided significant savings and assisted to deliver improvements in efficiency, but nationwide bodies and regional NHS leaders know that more is needed this year.

‘These modifications represent the greatest improving of the NHS’s nationwide architecture in more than a years. It is essential that regional NHS organisations and other bodies are associated with this improvement as the immediate next steps end up being clearer, so that an optimal operating design can be created.

‘This need to have to do with doing things differently for the benefit of regional neighborhoods as both clients and taxpayers, as well as for staff ahead of yearly study results on Thursday that are yet once again anticipated to reveal the severe obstacles they deal with.’

Wes Streeting