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 the other day in the middle of extreme cost-cutting steps.

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

Health secretary Wes Streeting is likewise seeking to tighten his control over the NHS, deliver much better value 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 nationwide medical director Professor Sir Stephen Powis.

The latest leaders to join the exodus are Julian Kelly, the chief financial officer, Emily Lawson, the chief operating officer, and Steve Russell, the chief delivery officer and national director for vaccination and screening.

NHS England is the nationwide quango tasked with overseeing the everyday running of the health service and its long-term method.

It was established by the Tories in 2013 to provide it greater political self-reliance but Mr Streeting is keen 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’ cash to support frontline services, the size of NHS England will be radically minimized and might see the size of the centre decline by around half.’

The deeper staffing cuts follow a decrease 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 also looking for 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 delivery officer Steve Russell (left) and chief running officer Emily Lawson (ideal) are among the most recent employers to sign up with the exodus

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

He stated: ‘We know that today’s news is unsettling for our personnel, and we have substantial challenges and changes ahead.’We aim to have a transition team in place to begin 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 think the time is best for radical reform of the size and functions of the centre to finest assistance local NHS systems and companies to provide for patients and drive the federal 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 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 helping guide the NHS through the pandemic.

‘I’ve enjoyed working with each of them over the last 8 months and I have actually been impressed by their skill and focus on providing improvement for patients and staff.

‘We are entering a period 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 work together with the speed and urgency needed to satisfy the scale of the difficulty.’

As of June last year, NHS England utilized simply under 15,000 full-time equivalent staff, consisting of permanent, short-lived 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 also 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 summer season

UNISON head of health Helga Pile said: ‘Staff will be not surprisingly worried about this abrupt change of direction.

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

‘Em ployees there have currently been through the mill with unlimited rounds of reorganisation. What was currently a demanding prospect has actually now become more like a headache.

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

‘Rushing through cuts brings a risk of creating an even more, more complex mess and might eventually hold the NHS back. That would pull down the very people who need it most, the clients.’

Matthew Taylor, president of the NHS Confederation, stated: ‘These changes are happening at a scale and speed not prepared for to begin with, but provided the big savings that the NHS needs to make this year it makes good sense to reduce 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 cost savings and helped to provide improvements in performance, however national bodies and regional NHS leaders understand that more is required this year.

‘These modifications represent the biggest improving of the NHS’s national architecture in more than a years. It is essential that local NHS organisations and other bodies are involved in this improvement as the instant next steps become clearer, so that an optimal operating design can be created.

‘This should be about doing things differently for the advantage of regional neighborhoods as both patients and taxpayers, along with for staff ahead of yearly survey results on Thursday that are yet again anticipated to reveal the severe difficulties they deal with.’

Wes Streeting