NHS England is undergoing a severe reorganisation under its new leader, which will result in the loss of half of its employees and a significant portion of its top management team. Know the latest update on NHS England job cuts.
With the elimination of entire teams to save money and prevent “duplication” with Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) officials, its employment will decrease from 13,000 to roughly 6,500.
Employees of NHS England expressed their “astonishment” at the magnitude of the layoffs, which surpassed the announcement of 2,000 job losses to save £175 million made only a few weeks prior.
A procedure that will see the DHSC working considerably more closely with NHS England starting in April will also result in the DHSC being smaller, even though it will lose far fewer employees than the latter.
Wes Streeting, the health secretary, will have much more authority over the body in charge of the health service’s day-to-day operations in England as a result of the changes.
“These changes represent the biggest reshaping of the NHS’s national architecture in more than a decade,” said Matthew Taylor, chief executive of the NHS Confederation, which represents NHS trusts in England.
In an email sent to employees today, NHS England’s departing CEO, Amanda Pritchard, revealed that Streeting was the driving force behind the organization’s drastic reduction.
Pritchard stated that he has asked her replacement, Jim Mackey, and the incoming new chair of NHS England, Dr. Penny Dash, to spearhead the “radical reform of the size and functions of the centre [how NHS staff refer to NHS England and the DHSC’s respective headquarters in London]”.
Following weeks of discussions with Streeting, Pritchard made her resignation at the end of the month public two weeks ago.
The two organisations’ reduction will be supervised by a “transition team” or “formal change programme board” of DHSC and NHS England representatives.
It will answer to Dash and Alan Milburn, the co-chairs of the board and the former Labour health secretary, Streeting, nominated as the DHSC’s main non-executive director.
“As part of this, they will be looking at ways of radically reducing the size of NHS England that could see the centre decrease by around half,” Pritchard said. The news would be “very unsettling” and involve “uncertainty and worry” for staff, she added.
Pritchard also revealed that this month, she will be followed out the door by Steve Russell, the chief delivery officer, Emily Lawson, and Julian Kelly, the deputy chief executive and finance chief of NHS England.
“They believe that now is the appropriate moment to let a new transition team, under Jim’s leadership, reshape NHS England and DHSC’s collaboration,” she stated. Last Thursday, the national medical director of the NHS, Prof. Sir Stephen Powis, also announced his departure.
One NHS England staffer said: “People here have been expecting change over the last couple of weeks but not as much change as is now apparent. They feel baffled, unnerved and fearful.
“The speed at which Emily Lawson, Julian Kelly and Steve Russell are going is bewildering.”
As part of the largest transformation of the NHS since its founding, then-health secretary Andrew Lansley restructured NHS England in 2012, giving the service a degree of independence from ministerial oversight. Streeting has made no secret of his desire to increase his authority to lead NHS England.
Last week, the Guardian revealed that Mackey was planning a significant purge of NHS England’s top leadership team, following the Guardian’s announcement last month that thousands of NHS England positions would be eliminated. More departures are anticipated.
Last Monday, NHS executives received a warning from Mackey and Pritchard that the institution may overspend by £6.6 billion in the 2025–2026 fiscal year and that “a fundamental reset of the financial regime” will assist “get a grip of this situation.”
