Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has announced NHS England will be abolished to “cut bureaucracy” and bring management of the health service “back into democratic control.”
The prime minister 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 government says will deliver better care for patients.
Starmer said the previous Tory government had been mistaken to make NHS England more independent from central government as he warned the state was “weaker than ever.”
“Overstretched, unfocused, trying to do too much, doing it badly,” the prime minister said.
He said the move would free up cash for doctors, nurses, and frontline services, and cut red tape to help speed up improvements in the health service amid frustrations about the pace of change.
The changes will reverse the 2012 shake-up of the NHS under the Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition, which the government says created “burdensome” layers of bureaucracy without any clear lines of accountability.
Speaking on a visit to Hull, Starmer said: “I can’t in all honesty explain to the British people why they should spend their money on two layers of bureaucracy.
“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.”
In a wide-ranging speech, the prime minister said that “strength abroad” demands “security back at home,” saying the government must go “further and faster” in delivering reform.
“Given what’s happening globally, given the insecurity in our country, now is the time, in my belief, for greater urgency and to go further and faster on what we need to do on security and renewal,” he said.
“So every pound that we spend, every regulation, every decision must deliver for working people. And I don’t just mean efficiency, although doing what you’re doing, you’ll know how important efficiency is.
“I mean something else which is allowing the state, the government, to operate what I call maximum power.
“So, reforming it so it’s closer to its communities, tearing down the walls of Westminster, inviting the British people in as partners in the business of change.”
The government said work would begin “immediately” to return many of NHS England’s functions to the Department of Health and Social Care.
A new leadership team, Sir 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.
