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 in the middle of drastic cost-cutting procedures.

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 looking for to tighten his control over the NHS, provide better worth for taxpayers and free-up money 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 most recent leaders to sign up with the exodus are Julian Kelly, the chief financial officer, Emily Lawson, the chief operating officer, and Steve Russell, the chief delivery officer and nationwide director for vaccination and screening.

NHS England is the nationwide quango tasked with supervising the day to day running of the health service and its long-lasting strategy.

It was established by the Tories in 2013 to offer it greater political self-reliance but Mr Streeting is keen to restore tighter control from within his Department.

NHS England said in a statement: ‘As part of the requirement to make finest possible use of taxpayers’ cash to support frontline services, the size of NHS England will be drastically lowered and might see the size of the centre decrease by around half.’

The deeper staffing cuts follow a decrease of about 4,000 to 6,000 staff members at NHS England over the past 2 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, 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 primary running officer Emily Lawson (best) are amongst the current managers to join the exodus

Sir Jim Mackey, who will end up being interim president at the start of April, will set up a shift group 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 unsettling for our staff, and we have significant difficulties and modifications ahead.’We aim to have a shift team in place to begin 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 said I believe the time is best for extreme reform of the size and functions of the centre to best assistance regional NHS systems and service providers to provide for patients and drive the federal government’s reform priorities.’

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 eradicate duplication’.

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

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

‘We are entering a period of important improvement for our NHS. ‘With a stronger relationship between the Department for Health and Social Care and NHS England, we will collaborate with the speed and urgency needed to meet the scale of the difficulty.’

As of June last year, NHS England employed simply under 15,000 full-time equivalent personnel, including irreversible, short-lived 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 monetary officer Julian Kelly has actually 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 said: ‘Staff will be not surprisingly concerned about this unexpected change of instructions.

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

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

‘Fixing a damaged NHS needs an appropriate plan, with main bodies resourced and handled efficiently so regional services are supported.

‘Rushing through a threat of creating a further, more complex mess and might ultimately hold the NHS back. That would pull down the very individuals who require it most, the patients.’

Matthew Taylor, president of the NHS Confederation, said: ‘These changes are occurring at a scale and pace not anticipated to begin with, but provided the substantial cost savings that the NHS needs to make this year it makes good sense to reduce locations of duplication at a nationwide level and for the NHS to be led by a leaner centre.

‘NHS England has actually currently provided considerable savings and helped to provide enhancements in efficiency, however nationwide bodies and local NHS leaders know that more is required this year.

‘These modifications represent the most significant improving of the NHS’s nationwide architecture in more than a decade. It is necessary that regional NHS organisations and other bodies are included in this change as the immediate next actions become clearer, so that a maximum operating model can be produced.

‘This must be about doing things in a different way for the advantage of regional communities as both clients and taxpayers, in addition to for staff ahead of yearly study results on Thursday that are yet once again anticipated to show the severe obstacles they face.’

Wes Streeting