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 yesterday amidst drastic cost-cutting measures.

The ‘bonfire of bureaucrats’ is targeted at getting rid of duplication across the organisations after their labor forces swelled during the pandemic.

Health secretary Wes Streeting is also looking for to tighten his control over the NHS, provide much better value for taxpayers and free-up money 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 chief executive Amanda Pritchard and national medical director Professor Sir Stephen Powis.

The newest leaders to sign up with the exodus are Julian Kelly, the chief financial 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 tasked with overseeing the day to day running of the health service and its long-term technique.

It was developed by the Tories in 2013 to offer it higher political self-reliance but Mr Streeting is keen to gain back tighter control from within his Department.

NHS England stated 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 lowered and might see the size of the centre decrease by around half.’

The deeper staffing cuts follow a reduction of about 4,000 to 6,000 staff members 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, in the middle of 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 operating officer Emily Lawson (best) are amongst the most current employers to sign up with the exodus

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

He stated: ‘We know that today’s news is disturbing for our staff, and we have substantial challenges and modifications ahead.’We aim 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 personnel, seen by the Health Service Journal: ‘In the last couple 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 service providers to provide for patients and drive the 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, providing significant modifications in our relationship with DHSC to eliminate duplication’.

Mr Streeting said: ‘I wish to put on record my thanks to Julian, Emily and Steve for their devotion as public servants, and their work in particular helping steer the NHS through the pandemic.

‘I have actually enjoyed dealing with each of them over the last 8 months and I’ve been impressed by their ability and focus on providing improvement for clients and personnel.

‘We are going into a period of critical improvement for our NHS. ‘With a stronger relationship between the Department for Health and Social Care and NHS England, we will interact with the speed and urgency needed to meet the scale of the obstacle.’

Since June last year, NHS England employed just under 15,000 full-time comparable staff, including long-term, 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 per cent 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 nationwide medical director, announced recently he would step down this summer

UNISON head of health Helga Pile said: ‘Staff will be understandably worried about this sudden modification of instructions.

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

‘Em ployees there have actually already been through the mill with limitless rounds of reorganisation. What was currently a demanding possibility has actually now become more like a nightmare.

‘Fixing a damaged NHS needs an appropriate plan, with central bodies resourced and handled effectively so regional services are supported.

‘Rushing through cuts brings a risk of producing an even more, more complicated mess and might ultimately hold the NHS back. That would let down the very people who require it most, the clients.’

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

‘NHS England has actually currently delivered considerable savings and assisted to deliver improvements in efficiency, but national bodies and local NHS leaders understand that more is required this year.

‘These modifications represent the biggest improving 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 transformation as the instant next actions become clearer, so that an optimum operating design can be produced.

‘This must be about doing things in a different way for the of regional neighborhoods as both clients and taxpayers, as well as for staff ahead of annual survey results on Thursday that are yet again expected to show the extreme difficulties they deal with.’

Wes Streeting