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 steps.

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

Health secretary Wes Streeting is also seeking to tighten his control over the NHS, deliver much better worth 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 primary executive Amanda Pritchard and nationwide medical director Professor Sir Stephen Powis.

The most recent leaders to sign up with the exodus are Julian Kelly, the primary monetary officer, Emily Lawson, the chief running officer, and Steve Russell, the chief shipment officer and national director for vaccination and screening.

NHS England is the national quango charged with overseeing the day to day running of the health service and its long-lasting strategy.

It was developed by the Tories in 2013 to offer it greater political independence however 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 best possible use of taxpayers’ cash to support frontline services, the size of NHS England will be significantly lowered and could see the size of the centre reduction by around half.’

The deeper staffing cuts follow a decrease of about 4,000 to 6,000 employees at NHS England over the past two years and about 800 at the Department of Health and Social Care.

Health secretary Wes Streeting is likewise seeking to tighten his control over the NHS, amid 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 chief operating officer Emily Lawson (best) are among the current managers to join the exodus

Sir Jim Mackey, who will become interim primary executive at the start of April, will establish 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 said: ‘We understand that today’s news is unsettling for our personnel, and we have significant obstacles and changes ahead.’We intend to have a transition group in place to begin on the 1st April 2025 to help lead us through this period.’

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

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

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

‘I’ve delighted in working with each of them over the last 8 months and I have actually been impressed by their ability and concentrate on providing improvement for clients and personnel.

‘We are getting in a duration of important improvement for our NHS. ‘With a stronger relationship between the Department for Health and Social Care and NHS England, we will with the speed and seriousness required to fulfill the scale of the difficulty.’

As of June in 2015, NHS England employed just under 15,000 full-time equivalent staff, including long-term, short-term 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 monetary officer Julian Kelly has also included his name to leaders resigning from their positions

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

UNISON head of health Helga Pile said: ‘Staff will be understandably worried about this unexpected change of instructions.

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

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

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

‘Rushing through cuts brings a risk of producing an even more, more complicated mess and could ultimately hold the NHS back. That would pull down the very people who need it most, the clients.’

Matthew Taylor, primary executive of the NHS Confederation, stated: ‘These modifications are taking place at a scale and rate not anticipated to start with, but provided the substantial savings that the NHS needs 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 currently delivered significant cost savings and assisted to provide enhancements in performance, but national bodies and regional NHS leaders understand that more is needed this year.

‘These changes represent the biggest reshaping of the NHS’s nationwide architecture in more than a years. It is essential that local NHS organisations and other bodies are involved in this improvement as the instant next steps become clearer, so that a maximum operating design can be developed.

‘This should be about doing things in a different way for the advantage of local communities as both clients and taxpayers, along with for staff ahead of annual study results on Thursday that are yet again expected to show the extreme obstacles they face.’

Wes Streeting