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 amidst drastic cost-cutting procedures.

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

Health secretary Wes Streeting is likewise seeking to tighten his control over the NHS, deliver much better worth for taxpayers and free-up money 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 chief executive Amanda Pritchard and nationwide medical director Professor Sir Stephen Powis.

The current leaders to join the exodus are Julian Kelly, the chief monetary officer, Emily Lawson, the chief operating officer, and Steve Russell, the chief shipment officer and nationwide director for vaccination and screening.

NHS England is the national quango entrusted with managing the everyday running of the health service and its long-lasting method.

It was developed by the Tories in 2013 to give it greater political independence but Mr Streeting is keen to gain back tighter control from within his Department.

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

The deeper staffing cuts follow a reduction of about 4,000 to 6,000 workers 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 seeking to tighten his control over the NHS, amid plans to cut personnel 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 operating officer Emily Lawson (right) are amongst the latest employers to sign up with the exodus

Sir Jim Mackey, who will become interim president 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 stated: ‘We understand that today’s news is upsetting for our personnel, and we have considerable difficulties and changes ahead.’We intend to have a transition group in location to start on the first April 2025 to help lead us through this duration.’

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

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

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

‘I’ve 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 staff.

‘We are going into a duration of vital improvement for our NHS. ‘With a more powerful relationship in between the Department for Health and Social Care and NHS England, we will collaborate with the speed and seriousness required to meet the scale of the challenge.’

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 financial officer Julian Kelly has likewise included his name to leaders resigning from their positions

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

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

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

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

‘Fixing a broken NHS requires a proper plan, with main bodies resourced and managed efficiently so regional services are supported.

‘Rushing through cuts brings a threat of creating a further, more complicated mess and might 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 anticipated to start with, but offered the substantial savings that the NHS needs to make this year it makes good sense to lower areas of duplication at a nationwide level and for the NHS to be led by a leaner centre.

‘NHS England has actually currently delivered considerable savings and assisted to deliver enhancements in productivity, but nationwide bodies and regional NHS leaders know that more is required this year.

‘These modifications represent the biggest reshaping of the NHS’s nationwide architecture in more than a decade. It is necessary that local NHS organisations and other bodies are associated with this improvement as the instant next steps become clearer, so that an optimal operating model can be created.

‘This need to have to do with doing things in a different way for the advantage of local neighborhoods as both clients and taxpayers, as well as for personnel ahead of annual study results on Thursday that are yet once again anticipated to reveal the extreme challenges they deal with.’

Wes Streeting