NHS England (NHSE) will be scrapped and brought back into the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) to reduce duplication and reinvest money into frontline services, the government has announced.
Prime Minister Sir Kier Starmer set out major reforms today, which will include the dissolution of NHSE – the world’s largest quango.
‘Work will begin immediately to return many of NHS England’s current functions to the Department,’ the government said.
‘A longer-term programme of work will deliver the changes to bring NHS England back into the department,’ it added.
This could deliver ‘hundreds of millions of pounds a year’ in savings that will then be reinvested in frontline services, the government said.
‘By stripping back layers of red tape and bureaucracy, more resources will be put back into the front line rather than being spent on unnecessary admin,’ it added.
Sir James Mackey, who is due to be taking over as transition chief executive of NHS England, said bringing the two organisations together would ‘deliver the biggest bang for our buck for patients, as we look to implement the three big shifts – analogue to digital, sickness to prevention, and hospital to community – and build an NHS fit for the future’.
Health and social care secretary, Wes 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.
‘NHS staff are working flat out but the current system sets them up to fail. These changes will support the huge number of capable, innovative and committed people across the NHS to deliver for patients and taxpayers.
‘Just because reform is difficult doesn’t mean it shouldn’t be done. This government will never duck the hard work of reform. We will take on vested interests and change the status quo, so the NHS can once again be there for you when you need it.’
The reforms also aim to ‘realise the untapped potential of the NHS as a single payer system, using its centralised model to procure cutting-edge technology more rapidly, get a better deal for taxpayers on procurement, and work more closely with the life sciences sector to develop the treatments of the future’, the government has said.
Royal College of Nursing (RCN) chief executive and general secretary Professor Nicola Ranger said: ‘NHS England was created to put distance between government and the problems of the health service.
‘Today, the government has confirmed who owns the real problems – understaffed services, poor quality care and long waits, not bureaucratic structures. The government must not lose sight of the public’s priorities.’
She added: ‘As the largest workforce in the NHS, delivering the vast majority of care, it is vital our expertise is heard at the top table of government.’
And she warned the chief nurse role ‘must have a place alongside the other new medical directors within the department’.
A version of this article was first published by our sister title The Pharmacist
