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 procedures.

The ‘bonfire of bureaucrats’ is targeted at removing duplication across the organisations after their workforces swelled during the pandemic.

Health secretary Wes Streeting is likewise seeking to tighten his control over the NHS, provide much better value for taxpayers and free-up cash for the frontline.

Three more NHS England board members yesterday announced they will quit 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 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 national quango tasked 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 higher political independence however Mr Streeting is eager to regain tighter control from within his Department.

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

The deeper staffing cuts follow a decrease 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, amid plans to cut staff numbers in half at NHS England and the Department of Health

Former NHS England Pritchard will step down from her position at the end of this month

NHS England chief delivery officer Steve Russell (left) and primary operating officer Emily Lawson (best) are among the most recent employers to join the exodus

Sir Jim Mackey, who will end up being interim president at the start of April, will establish a shift group within NHS England to ‘lead the extreme decrease and improving of the centre with the Department of Health and Social Care’.

He stated: ‘We understand that today’s news is unsettling for our personnel, and we have significant challenges and changes ahead.’We aim to have a transition team in location to begin on the first April 2025 to help lead us through this period.’

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

She stated Mr Streeting had actually asked Sir Jim and Penny Dash, the incoming NHS England chair, to ‘lead this work, delivering significant modifications 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 dedication as public servants, and their work in particular helping guide the NHS through the pandemic.

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

‘We are getting in a period of vital 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 obstacle.’

As of June in 2015, NHS England employed simply under 15,000 full-time equivalent staff, including irreversible, 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 percent more than in January 2020.

NHS England primary financial officer Julian Kelly has also added his name to leaders resigning from their positions

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

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

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

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

‘Fixing a broken NHS requires a correct strategy, with main bodies resourced and managed efficiently so local services are supported.

‘Rushing through cuts brings a danger of producing a further, more complex mess and could ultimately hold the NHS back. That would pull down the very people who require it most, the patients.’

Matthew Taylor, president of the NHS Confederation, stated: ‘These changes are occurring at a scale and rate not expected to start with, but provided the big savings that the NHS requires to make this year it makes good sense to reduce areas of duplication at a national level and for the NHS to be led by a leaner centre.

‘NHS England has actually currently delivered significant savings and assisted to provide enhancements in performance, however national bodies and regional NHS leaders know that more is needed this year.

‘These changes represent the biggest reshaping of the NHS’s national architecture in more than a years. It is essential that local NHS organisations and other bodies are associated with this transformation as the immediate next steps become clearer, so that a maximum operating model can be created.

‘This need to 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 annual study results on Thursday that are yet once again expected to reveal the extreme obstacles they face.’

Wes Streeting