{"id":9586,"date":"2025-03-13T14:53:35","date_gmt":"2025-03-13T13:53:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.gpsj.co.uk\/?p=9586"},"modified":"2025-03-13T14:53:36","modified_gmt":"2025-03-13T13:53:36","slug":"nhs-worlds-largest-quango-scrapped-under-reforms-to-put-patients-first","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.gpsj.co.uk\/?p=9586","title":{"rendered":"NHS: World\u2019s largest quango scrapped under reforms to put patients first"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n
Major reforms to empower NHS staff and put patients first<\/li>\n\n\n\n
Changes will drive efficiency and empower staff to deliver better care as part of Prime Minister\u2019s Plan for Change<\/li>\n\n\n\n
Move will reduce complex bureaucracy and undo the damage caused by 2012 reorganisation<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
Reforms to reduce bureaucracy, make savings and empower NHS staff to deliver better care for patients have been set out today by the Prime Minister Keir Starmer.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
NHS England will be brought back into the Department of Health and Social Care to put an end to the duplication resulting from two organisations doing the same job in a system currently holding staff back from delivering for patients. 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. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The current system also penalises hardworking staff at NHS England and the Department of Health and Social Care who desperately want to improve the lives of patients but who are being held back by the current overly bureaucratic and fragmented system.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The reforms will reverse the 2012 top-down reorganisation of the NHS which created burdensome layers of bureaucracy without any clear lines of accountability. As Lord Darzi\u2019s independent investigation into the state of the NHS found, the effects of this are still felt today and have left patients worse off under a convoluted and broken system.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Health and Social Care Secretary, Wes Streeting, said:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThis 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWhen money is so tight, we can\u2019t justify such a complex bureaucracy with two organisations doing the same jobs. We need more doers, and fewer checkers, which is why I\u2019m devolving resources and responsibilities to the NHS frontline.<\/p>\n\n\n
\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n
\u201cNHS 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. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cJust because reform is difficult doesn\u2019t mean it shouldn\u2019t 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.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sir James Mackey, who will be taking over as Transition CEO of NHS England, said:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe know that while unsettling for our staff, today\u2019s announcement will bring welcome clarity as we focus on tackling the significant challenges ahead and delivering on the government\u2019s priorities for patients.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cFrom managing the Covid pandemic, the biggest and most successful vaccine campaign which got the country back on its feet, to introducing the latest most innovative new treatments for patients, NHS England has played a vital role in improving the nation’s health. I have always been exceptionally proud to work for the NHS \u2013 and our staff in NHS England have much to be proud of.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cBut we now need to bring NHS England and DHSC together so we can deliver the biggest bang for our buck for patients, as we look to implement the three big shifts \u2013 analogue to digital, sickness to prevention, and hospital to community \u2013 and build an NHS fit for the future.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Incoming NHS England Chair, Dr Penny Dash said:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI am committed to working with Jim, the board and wider colleagues at NHS England to ensure we start 25\/26 in the strongest possible position to support the wider NHS to deliver consistently high-quality care for patients and value for money for taxpayers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI will also be working closely with Alan Milburn to lead the work to bring together NHSE and DHSC to reduce duplication and streamline functions.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Work will begin immediately to return many of NHS England\u2019s current functions to the Department. A longer-term programme of work will deliver the changes to bring NHS England back into the department, while maintaining a laser-like focus on the government\u2019s priorities to cut waiting times and responsibly manage finances.It will also 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The reforms to deliver a more efficient, leaner centre will also free up capacity and help deliver significant savings of hundreds of millions of pounds a year, which will be reinvested in frontline services to cut waiting times through the government\u2019s Plan for Change.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The changes will crucially also give more power and autonomy to local leaders and systems \u2013 instead of weighing them down in increasing mountains of red tape, they will be given the tools and trust they need to deliver health services for the local communities they serve with more freedom to tailor provision to meet local needs. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The number of people working in the centre has more than doubled since 2010, when the NHS delivered the shortest waiting times and highest patient satisfaction in its history. Today, the NHS delivers worse care for patients but is more expensive than ever, meaning that taxpayers are paying more but getting less.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Too much centralisation and over-supervision has led to a tangled bureaucracy, which focuses on compliance and box-ticking, rather than patient care, value for money, and innovation. In one example, highlighted by Dame Patricia Hewitt\u2019s 2023 review, one Integrated Care System received 97 ad-hoc requests in a month from DHSC and NHSE, in addition to the 6 key monthly, 11 weekly and 3 daily data returns.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The review also revealed the challenges caused by duplication \u2013 citing \u2018examples of tensions, wasted time and needless frictional costs generated by uncoordinated pursuit of organizational goals that do not take account of their wider effects\u2019. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Substantial reform, not just short term investment, is needed to deliver the government\u2019s Plan for Change mission to get the NHS back on its feet and fit for the future, and this announcement is one of a series of steps the government is taking to make the NHS more productive and resilient so that it can meet the needs of the population it cares for.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
NHS England\u2019s new leadership team, Sir Jim Mackey and Dr Penny Dash, will lead this transformation while reasserting financial discipline and continuing to deliver on the government\u2019s priority of cutting waiting times through the Plan for Change.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
These reforms will provide the structure necessary to drive forward the three big shifts identified by government as crucial to building an NHS fit for the future \u2013 analogue to digital, sickness to prevention, and hospital to community.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Since July, Government has already taken significant steps to get the NHS back on its feet, including bringing an end to the resident doctor strikes, delivering an extra 2 million appointments 7 months early and cutting waiting lists by 193,000 since July.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Responding to the announcement that NHS England will be abolished, Hugh Alderwick, Director of Policy at the Health Foundation, told GPSJ:<\/strong> \u00a0 \u2018Abolishing NHS England is a watershed moment in how the English NHS is governed and managed \u2013 and ends a 12 year experiment with trying to manage the NHS more independently from ministers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2018There is some logic in bringing the workings of NHS England and the government more closely together \u2013 for example, to help provide clarity to the health service on priorities for improvement. And \u2013 in reality \u2013 it is impossible to take politics out of the NHS.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2018But history tells us that rejigging NHS organisations is hugely distracting and rarely delivers the benefits politicians expect. Scrapping NHS England completely will cause disruption and divert time and energy of senior leaders at a time when attention should be focused on improving care for patients. It will also eat up the time of ministers, with new legislation likely needed. Expected cuts to local NHS management budgets will add to the disruption, and may undermine the NHS\u2019s ability to implement the government\u2019s plans for improving the NHS. Reforming NHS bureaucracy is not the same as reforming patient care \u2013 and government must be careful that these changes don\u2019t get in the way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2018Today\u2019s staff survey shows that the NHS workforce is in a fragile state: four in ten staff report feeling unwell because of work-related stress and a third say they feel burnt out. More than one in four think about leaving their jobs. Improving NHS care and productivity can\u2019t happen without a workforce that is stable, feels well, and able to make improvements.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Major reforms to empower NHS staff and put patients first Changes will drive efficiency and empower staff to deliver better care as part of Prime Minister\u2019s Plan for Change Move will reduce complex bureaucracy and undo the damage caused by 2012 reorganisation <\/p>\n
Reforms to reduce bureaucracy, make savings and empower NHS staff to <\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.gpsj.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/IMG_0322-1024x684.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n