PRIME Minister Keir Starmer has announced the abolition of NHS England, which employs around 13,000 staff.
The Labour leader said the move would “cut bureaucracy” and bring management of the health service “back into democratic control”.
Responding to a question from Sky News, Starmer denied that the cuts amounted to a return to austerity.
In a speech in Yorkshire on Thursday, Starmer said decisions about billions of pounds of taxpayer money should not be taken by an “arms-length” body, as he promised sweeping reforms which the UK Government says will deliver better care for patients.
The Prime Minister said the previous Tory government had been mistaken to make NHS England more independent from central government and warned the state was “weaker than ever”.
“Overstretched, unfocused, trying to do too much, doing it badly,” he said.
“I can’t in all honesty explain to the British people why they should spend their money on two layers of bureaucracy.
“That money could and should be spent on nurses, doctors, operations, GP appointments.
“So today, I can announce we’re going to cut bureaucracy… focus Government on the priorities of working people, shift money to the front line.
“So I’m bringing management of the NHS back into democratic control by abolishing the arms-length body NHS England.”
Answering a question from a cancer patient on how the decision would improve NHS services, Starmer said: “Amongst the reasons we are abolishing it is because of the duplication.
“So, if you can believe it, we’ve got a communications team in NHS England, we’ve got a communications team in the health department of government, we’ve got a strategy team in NHS England, a strategy team in the government department. We are duplicating things that could be done once.
“If we strip that out, which is what we are doing today, that then allows us to free up that money to put it where it needs to be, which is the front line.”
He added that the Government wanted to push power to frontline workers “and away from the bureaucracy which often holds them up”.
NHS England oversees the commissioning side of the health service south of the Border. It was set up in 2012 after Conservative reforms.
The UK Government said work would begin “immediately” to return many of NHS England’s functions to the Department of Health and Social Care.
Last month, NHS England chief executive Amanda Pritchard announced she would be leaving the role at the end of March.
A new leadership team, Jim Mackey and Dr Penny Dash, will oversee this transition while “reasserting financial discipline and continuing to deliver on the government’s priority of cutting waiting times,” it said.
Earlier this week, reports that NHS England could be cut in half sparked concerns in the health sector.
“Fixing a broken NHS needs a proper plan, with central bodies resourced and managed effectively so local services are supported.
“Rushing through cuts brings a risk of creating a further, more complicated mess and could ultimately hold the NHS back. That would let down the very people who need it most, the patients.”
Jon Restell, the chief executive of MiP – the trade union for health and care managers, said on Wednesday that cutting NHS England in half (which was the reported plan at the time), was a “big mistake”.
Writing in the Health Service Journal, Restell said: “Reform has become nothing more than a cut and that is not reform.
“I find it hard to convey quite how disrespectful and hurtful people in NHSE find this approach. They joined the organisation, and get out of bed in the morning, wanting to improve the NHS and patient care, to do a good job for the public. Their skill, hard work, and dedication is devalued to a cost to cut.”
