Wes Streeting Cuts NHS HQ Staff Numbers In Half

Plans to cut personnel numbers in half at NHS England and the Department of Health and Social Care were unveiled yesterday amid drastic cost-cutting procedures.

The ‘bonfire of bureaucrats’ is aimed at getting rid of duplication across the organisations after their workforces swelled throughout the pandemic.

Health secretary Wes Streeting is likewise 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 quit at the end of this month, following the recent resignations of chief executive 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 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 entrusted with overseeing 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 regain tighter control from within his Department.

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

The much deeper staffing cuts follow a reduction 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 also 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 delivery officer Steve Russell (left) and chief operating officer Emily Lawson (ideal) are amongst the newest bosses to join the exodus

Sir Jim Mackey, who will become interim chief executive at the start of April, will set up a shift group within NHS England to ‘lead the extreme reduction and improving of the centre with the Department of Health and Social Care’.

He said: ‘We understand that today’s news is disturbing for our staff, and we have significant obstacles and changes ahead.’We intend to have a transition group in location to start on the 1st April 2025 to assist lead us through this duration.’

Ms Pritchard said in a note to staff, seen by the Health Service Journal: ‘In the last number of weeks, I have said I believe the time is right for radical reform of the size and functions of the centre to finest assistance regional NHS systems and suppliers to provide for clients and drive the federal 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 considerable 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 devotion as public servants, and their work in specific assisting steer the NHS through the pandemic.

‘I have actually delighted in working with each of them over the last eight months and I have actually been impressed by their skill and concentrate on delivering enhancement for clients and personnel.

‘We are getting in a period of important transformation for our NHS. ‘With a stronger relationship in between the Department for Health and Social Care and NHS England, we will interact with the speed and urgency required to satisfy the scale of the difficulty.’

As of June in 2015, NHS England used simply under 15,000 full-time equivalent personnel, consisting of permanent, momentary 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 also added his name to leaders resigning from their positions

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

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

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

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

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

‘Rushing through cuts brings a danger of producing a further, more complex mess and might eventually hold the NHS back. That would let down the very people who need it most, the clients.’

Matthew Taylor, primary executive of the NHS Confederation, said: ‘These modifications are taking place at a scale and pace not expected to start with, but provided the big cost savings that the NHS needs to make this year it makes good sense to decrease locations of duplication at a and for the NHS to be led by a leaner centre.

‘NHS England has currently provided significant savings and helped to provide enhancements in performance, but nationwide bodies and regional NHS leaders understand 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 essential that regional NHS organisations and other bodies are involved in this change as the immediate next actions become clearer, so that an optimum operating design can be created.

‘This should be about doing things in a different way for the benefit of local neighborhoods as both patients and taxpayers, as well as for staff ahead of annual study results on Thursday that are yet again expected to show the severe obstacles they deal with.’

Wes Streeting