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 the other day in the middle of drastic cost-cutting procedures.

The ‘bonfire of bureaucrats’ is targeted at eliminating 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, provide better value 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 current resignations of president Amanda Pritchard and national medical director Professor Sir Stephen Powis.

The most recent leaders to join the exodus are Julian Kelly, the primary monetary 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 managing the day to day running of the health service and its long-lasting strategy.

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

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

The much deeper staffing cuts follow a decrease 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 likewise looking for to tighten his control over the NHS, amidst strategies 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 (right) are among the most recent bosses to sign up with the exodus

Sir Jim Mackey, who will end up being interim chief executive at the start of April, will establish a transition team within NHS England to ‘lead the radical reduction and improving 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 considerable obstacles and modifications ahead.’We intend to have a transition team in location to begin on the first April 2025 to assist lead us through this duration.’

Ms Pritchard stated in a note to staff, seen by the Health Service Journal: ‘In the last couple of weeks, I have said I believe the time is ideal for extreme reform of the size and functions of the centre to best support local NHS systems and service providers to provide for patients and drive the government’s reform priorities.’

She stated Mr Streeting had actually asked Sir Jim and Penny Dash, the inbound NHS England chair, to ‘lead this work, delivering substantial changes in our relationship with DHSC to remove 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 helping steer the NHS through the pandemic.

‘I’ve enjoyed working 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 .

‘We are entering a period of vital change 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 required to fulfill the scale of the challenge.’

Since June in 2015, NHS England employed simply under 15,000 full-time equivalent staff, consisting of long-term, 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 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 recently he would step down this summer season

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

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

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

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

‘Rushing through cuts brings a risk of developing an even more, more complex mess and might eventually hold the NHS back. That would pull down the very individuals who require it most, the clients.’

Matthew Taylor, president of the NHS Confederation, stated: ‘These changes are happening at a scale and rate not prepared for to begin with, however offered the substantial 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 already delivered substantial savings and helped to provide improvements in productivity, but national bodies and local NHS leaders understand that more is needed this year.

‘These changes represent the most significant improving of the NHS’s national architecture in more than a years. It is necessary that local NHS organisations and other bodies are associated with this transformation as the immediate next actions become clearer, so that an optimum operating design can be developed.

‘This must be about doing things in a different way for the benefit of regional neighborhoods as both clients and taxpayers, along with for personnel ahead of yearly survey results on Thursday that are yet again anticipated to show the extreme obstacles they deal with.’

Wes Streeting