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 the other day amid drastic cost-cutting steps.

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, deliver much better worth for taxpayers and free-up cash for the frontline.

Three more NHS England board members the other day revealed they will stop at the end of this month, following the current resignations of chief executive Amanda Pritchard and nationwide medical director Professor Sir Stephen Powis.

The most current 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 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 method.

It was developed by the Tories in 2013 to give it higher political self-reliance however Mr Streeting is eager to restore tighter control from within his Department.

NHS England said in a statement: ‘As part of the need to make best possible use of taxpayers’ cash to support frontline services, the size of NHS England will be significantly decreased and might see the size of the centre reduction by around half.’

The much deeper staffing cuts follow a reduction 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 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 chief running officer Emily Lawson (ideal) are among the to sign up with the exodus

Sir Jim Mackey, who will become interim chief executive at the start of April, will set up a shift team within NHS England to ‘lead the radical decrease 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 challenges and changes ahead.’We aim to have a transition group in place to start on the first April 2025 to help lead us through this period.’

Ms Pritchard said in a note to personnel, seen by the Health Service Journal: ‘In the last number of weeks, I have actually said I believe the time is ideal for radical reform of the size and functions of the centre to finest support local NHS systems and providers to provide for patients and drive the federal government’s reform concerns.’

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

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

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

‘We are getting in a period of critical 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 urgency needed to satisfy the scale of the challenge.’

Since June in 2015, NHS England used just under 15,000 full-time equivalent personnel, including permanent, 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 financial officer Julian Kelly has actually also added his name to leaders resigning from their positions

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

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

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

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

‘Fixing a broken NHS requires an appropriate strategy, with central bodies resourced and managed successfully so local 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 require it most, the patients.’

Matthew Taylor, chief executive of the NHS Confederation, stated: ‘These changes are occurring at a scale and rate not prepared for to start with, however provided the substantial savings that the NHS requires to make this year it makes good sense to decrease locations of duplication at a nationwide level and for the NHS to be led by a leaner centre.

‘NHS England has actually already provided substantial cost savings and assisted to provide improvements in productivity, however nationwide bodies and local NHS leaders understand that more is needed this year.

‘These changes represent the most significant reshaping of the NHS’s nationwide architecture in more than a decade. It is very important that regional NHS organisations and other bodies are involved in this change as the instant next steps become clearer, so that an optimal operating model can be created.

‘This should be about doing things differently for the advantage of regional communities as both patients and taxpayers, in addition to for personnel ahead of yearly study results on Thursday that are yet once again anticipated to show the extreme challenges they face.’

Wes Streeting