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 in the middle of extreme cost-cutting steps.

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

Health secretary Wes Streeting is also 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 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 recent leaders to sign up with the exodus are Julian Kelly, the chief financial officer, Emily Lawson, the chief operating officer, and Steve Russell, the chief shipment officer and national director for vaccination and screening.

NHS England is the nationwide quango tasked with managing the day to day running of the health service and its long-lasting method.

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

NHS England stated in a statement: ‘As part of the requirement to make best possible usage of taxpayers’ cash to support frontline services, the size of NHS England will be radically decreased and could see the size of the centre reduction by around half.’

The deeper staffing cuts follow a decrease of about 4,000 to 6,000 employees 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, 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 primary running officer Emily Lawson (best) are amongst the most recent managers 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 reshaping of the centre with the Department of Health and Social Care’.

He said: ‘We understand that today’s news is upsetting for our staff, and we have considerable challenges and modifications ahead.’We intend to have a transition team in place to start on the first April 2025 to help lead us through this period.’

Ms Pritchard stated in a note to staff, seen by the Health Service Journal: ‘In the last couple of weeks, I have said I think the time is ideal for extreme reform of the size and functions of the centre to finest support local NHS systems and providers to deliver for patients and drive the federal government’s reform concerns.’

She said Mr Streeting had asked Sir Jim and Penny Dash, the inbound NHS England chair, to ‘lead this work, delivering significant changes 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 specific helping steer the NHS through the pandemic.

‘I’ve taken pleasure in dealing with each of them over the last 8 months and I’ve been impressed by their skill and focus on delivering enhancement for clients and staff.

‘We are going into a duration of important improvement 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 meet the scale of the obstacle.’

As of June last year, NHS England utilized just under 15,000 full-time comparable personnel, including irreversible, momentary and consultancy. The Department of Health and Social Care had around 9,000, including the UK Health Security Agency. These are both around 30 percent more than in January 2020.

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

Professor Stephen Powis, the NHS director, revealed last week he would step down this summertime

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

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

‘Em ployees there have already been through the mill with unlimited rounds of reorganisation. What was already a stressful possibility has now ended up being more like a problem.

‘Fixing a broken NHS requires an appropriate plan, with central bodies resourced and handled efficiently so regional services are supported.

‘Rushing through cuts brings a risk of creating a further, more complicated mess and could eventually hold the NHS back. That would pull down the very people who need it most, the patients.’

Matthew Taylor, president of the NHS Confederation, said: ‘These modifications are taking place at a scale and rate not anticipated to start with, however provided the substantial cost savings that the NHS needs to make this year it makes sense to minimize areas of duplication at a nationwide level and for the NHS to be led by a leaner centre.

‘NHS England has currently provided significant savings and assisted to provide enhancements in efficiency, however nationwide bodies and local NHS leaders know that more is needed this year.

‘These changes represent the greatest improving of the NHS’s national architecture in more than a years. It is necessary that local NHS organisations and other bodies are associated with this change as the immediate next steps become clearer, so that an optimal operating model can be produced.

‘This must have to do with doing things differently for the benefit of local neighborhoods as both patients and taxpayers, along with for staff ahead of yearly survey results on Thursday that are yet again anticipated to show the extreme obstacles they deal with.’

Wes Streeting