Labour has ordered NHS England to cut up to 7,000 office-based jobs as part of a radical restructuring of the health service.
Health Secretary Wes Streeting’s plan will slash approximately half of all central staff positions.
The move represents the biggest reshaping of NHS architecture in more than a decade, with power transferring back to ministers.
NHS staff were told on Monday that leaders would be “looking at ways of radically reducing the size of NHS England that could see the centre decrease by around half”.
Health Secretary Wes Streeting’s plan will slash approximately half of all central staff positions
PA
A recruitment freeze has also been implemented, with all vacancies “indefinitely frozen”.
The cuts aim to shrink central bureaucracy and divert resources to frontline care.
The restructuring will give the Department of Health and Social Care greater oversight of day-to-day NHS operations.
This reverses the 2013 reforms introduced by Conservative Health Secretary Andrew Lansley, which had established NHS England as a more independent body.
Ministers believe reducing national managers is essential to improve efficiency and meet Labour’s manifesto pledge to reduce waiting lists.
The health service has seen an exodus of senior leaders in recent weeks.
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The move represents the biggest reshaping of NHS architecture in more than a decade
PA
Three more NHS England board members announced their resignations on Monday, including Julian Kelly, chief financial officer, and Dame Emily Lawson, chief operating officer who led the Covid-19 vaccine programme.
NHS chief executive Amanda Pritchard resigned last month, while chairman Richard Meddings and national medical director Sir Stephen Powis also announced their departures.
Sir Jim Mackey, the incoming interim NHS chief executive, has been tasked with overseeing this transition period.
His specific role will be to reset the relationship between the government and the NHS.
In a letter to staff, outgoing chief executive Amanda Pritchard said Mackey had been asked to “deliver significant changes in our relationship with DHSC to eradicate duplication”.
Pritchard revealed that someone would be appointed to lead “a formal change programme between NHS England and DHSC”.
The restructuring will give the Department of Health and Social Care greater oversight of day-to-day NHS operations
PA
The health service has seen an exodus of senior leaders in recent weeks
PA
This person will report to Penny Dash, the new NHS chairwoman, and Alan Milburn, former Labour health secretary who now serves as Streeting’s top adviser.
The restructuring will lead to mergers between the Department and NHS England in certain policy areas.
Wes Streeting said: “We are entering a period of critical transformation for our NHS. With a stronger relationship between the Department for Health and Social Care and NHS England, we will work together with the speed and urgency needed to meet the scale of the challenge.”
An ally of the health secretary added that the changes were vital for this “period of transformation” to tackle “enormous challenges” facing the NHS.
Matthew Taylor, chief executive of the NHS Confederation, said: “These changes are happening at a scale and pace not anticipated to begin with, but given the huge savings that the NHS needs to make this year it makes sense to reduce areas of duplication at a national level.”
He added that the restructuring represents “the biggest reshaping of the NHS’s national architecture in more than a decade”.
