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Sir Keir Starmer has announced the abolition of NHS England in a move he said would slash bureaucracy, save money and bring management of the health system “back into democratic control”.
The UK prime minister said the abolition of the body — the world’s largest government agency — would put the NHS “back at the heart of government” and free it to “focus on patients” and cut waiting lists.
He cited strategy and communications teams in both NHS England and in the Department of Health and Social Care as examples of duplication and waste.
“We’re duplicating things that could be done once. If we stripped that out, which is what we’re doing today, that then allows us to free up that money to put it where it needs to be, which is the front line,” Starmer said.
NHS England is responsible for the overall management and direction of the health service in the country, allocating £134bn to local NHS systems.
The move reverses a major top-down reorganisation of the NHS ushered in by David Cameron, then Tory prime minister, in 2012.
Starmer’s intervention follows the resignation of the body’s chief executive Amanda Pritchard last month, as health secretary Wes Streeting outlined plans for tighter Whitehall control of the NHS.
Streeting had demanded a “new relationship” between the government and the NHS. The drastic shake-up announced on Thursday will reverse the operational independence granted to the service under controversial reforms introduced in 2012 by Andrew Lansley, then Conservative health secretary.
“This is the final nail in the coffin of the disastrous 2012 reorganisation, which led to the longest waiting times, lowest patient satisfaction, and most expensive NHS in history,” Streeting said.
“When money is so tight, we can’t justify such a complex bureaucracy with two organisations doing the same jobs. We need more doers, and fewer checkers, which is why I’m devolving resources and responsibilities to the NHS frontline.”
On Monday, staff working in central operations at NHS England were warned of job cuts of up to 50 per cent and announced the resignation of several of the most senior officials running the organisation.
