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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 removing 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 cash for the frontline.

Three more NHS England board members yesterday announced they will stop at the end of this month, following the current resignations of president Amanda Pritchard and national medical director Professor Sir Stephen Powis.

The newest leaders to join the exodus are Julian Kelly, the primary financial officer, Emily Lawson, the chief running officer, and Steve Russell, the chief delivery officer and nationwide director for vaccination and screening.

NHS England is the nationwide quango charged with overseeing the daily running of the health service and its long-lasting technique.

It was established by the Tories in 2013 to offer it higher political independence however Mr Streeting is keen to regain tighter control from within his Department.

NHS England said in a statement: ‘As part of the need to make finest possible use of taxpayers’ money to support frontline services, the size of NHS England will be drastically minimized and might see the size of the centre decline by around half.’

The much deeper staffing cuts follow a reduction of about 4,000 to 6,000 employees at NHS England over the past 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, amidst plans 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 operating officer Emily Lawson (right) are amongst the most recent bosses to sign up with the exodus

Sir Jim Mackey, who will become interim president at the start of April, will set up a transition 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 unsettling for our staff, and we have considerable challenges and modifications ahead.’We intend to have a shift group in place to begin on the 1st April 2025 to help lead us through this period.’

Ms Pritchard stated in a note to personnel, seen by the Health Service Journal: ‘In the last couple of weeks, I have actually stated I think the time is best for radical reform of the size and functions of the centre to finest assistance regional NHS systems and service providers to provide for clients and drive the federal government’s reform top priorities.’

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

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

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

‘We are entering a duration of important improvement 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.’

As of June in 2015, NHS England employed simply under 15,000 full-time equivalent staff, consisting of permanent, short-lived and consultancy. The 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 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 understandably concerned about this unexpected change of direction.

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

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

‘Fixing a broken NHS needs a correct strategy, with main bodies resourced and managed effectively so local services are supported.

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

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

‘NHS England has actually already delivered significant savings and assisted to provide improvements in productivity, but nationwide bodies and regional NHS leaders know that more is needed this year.

‘These changes represent the most significant reshaping of the NHS’s nationwide architecture in more than a decade. It is very important that regional NHS organisations and other bodies are associated with this change as the immediate next steps become clearer, so that a maximum operating design can be created.

‘This need to have to do with doing things differently for the benefit of local neighborhoods as both clients and taxpayers, as well as for staff ahead of yearly survey results on Thursday that are yet again expected to show the extreme challenges they deal with.’

Wes Streeting