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 revealed the other day amid drastic cost-cutting measures.

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 likewise seeking 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 the other day announced they will give up at the end of this month, following the current resignations of primary executive Amanda Pritchard and national medical director Professor Sir Stephen Powis.

The current 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 nationwide quango tasked with supervising the everyday running of the health service and its long-term technique.

It was developed by the Tories in 2013 to give it greater political independence but 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 usage of taxpayers’ money to support frontline services, the size of NHS England will be significantly reduced and could see the size of the centre reduction by around half.’

The much deeper staffing cuts follow a decrease of about 4,000 to 6,000 employees at NHS England over the previous 2 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, amidst strategies 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 delivery officer Steve Russell (left) and chief running officer Emily Lawson (right) are amongst the most current employers to join the exodus

Sir Jim Mackey, who will end up being interim president at the start of April, will establish a transition team within NHS England to ‘lead the radical reduction and reshaping of the centre with the Department of Health and Social Care’.

He said: ‘We know that today’s news is upsetting for our staff, and we have substantial obstacles and changes ahead.’We aim to have a transition group in place to begin on the first 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 stated I think the time is right for extreme reform of the size and functions of the centre to best support local NHS systems and providers to provide for clients and drive the government’s reform top priorities.’

She stated Mr Streeting had asked Sir Jim and Penny Dash, the inbound NHS England chair, to ‘lead this work, delivering considerable 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 enjoyed working with each of them over the last 8 months and I’ve been impressed by their skill and focus on delivering improvement for patients and staff.

‘We are going into a period of crucial transformation for our NHS. ‘With a stronger relationship between the Department for Health and Social Care and NHS England, we will collaborate with the speed and seriousness needed to fulfill the scale of the difficulty.’

Since June last year, NHS England used just under 15,000 full-time comparable staff, including irreversible, 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 per cent more than in January 2020.

NHS England chief financial officer Julian Kelly has actually likewise included his name to leaders resigning from their positions

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

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

‘The variety of redundancies being sought 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 demanding possibility has now become more like a nightmare.

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

‘Rushing through cuts brings a threat of developing an even more, more complicated mess and could eventually hold the NHS back. That would let down the very individuals who require it most, the clients.’

Matthew Taylor, president of the NHS Confederation, stated: ‘These changes are taking place at a scale and pace not expected to start with, however offered the big cost savings that the NHS requires to make this year it makes good sense to decrease areas of duplication at a national level and for the NHS to be led by a leaner centre.

‘NHS England has currently provided substantial cost 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 biggest reshaping of the NHS’s in more than a decade. It is essential that local NHS organisations and other bodies are involved in this improvement as the immediate next steps become clearer, so that an optimal operating model can be created.

‘This must be about doing things differently for the advantage of local neighborhoods as both patients and taxpayers, in addition to for personnel ahead of yearly survey results on Thursday that are yet once again anticipated to show the extreme obstacles they face.’

Wes Streeting