NHS England policy and comms roles among 7,000 cut under Streeting ‘power grab’

Thousands of jobs are set to be axed at NHS England with communications, policy, managerial and administration roles in the sights of Health Secretary Wes Streeting.

Staff at the central body which runs the health service have been left shocked at the scale of change which has seen three senior directors leave as the Government seeks to cut the organisation in half. Between 6,500 and 7,000 jobs are thought to be at risk as ministers look to save £175m a year with entire teams axed.

Streeting has made no secret of his ambition to gain more power to direct NHS England, which has been semi-independent of ministerial control as a result of then health secretary Andrew Lansley’s shake-up of the service in 2012, as part of the biggest overhaul of the NHS since it was founded.

As details of what is being seen as a power grab emerged, NHS chief executive Amanda Pritchard announced her departure. The Health Secretary insisted he did not ask Pritchard to leave her job and that he had “so much respect and time” for her.

Pritchard also announced that Julian Kelly, NHS England’s deputy chief executive and finance chief, chief operating officer Emily Lawson and chief delivery officer Steve Russell will follow her out the door this month. Medical director Sir Stephen Powis has also said he is leaving the service.

Entire teams are expected to be axed to save money and avoid “duplication” with officials at the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC). Among those set be significantly downsized are the internal and external communications teams.

One Government source told The i Paper: “There are about 360 people working across comms in NHS England and there is obviously a fair amount of crossover with what the same team does within Department of Health and Social Care does.

“That’s not to say one side will bear all the brunt of the cuts – they won’t – but this is obviously an area where we can significantly streamline departments.

“A lot of managerial roles will also go at NHS England and while of course anyone losing their job will be upset, for too long governments have not paid heed to the public when they complain that there too many managers and not enough doctors in the NHS.

“This is all about laser-like focus on improving frontline services, boosting clinical staff numbers and bringing down waiting lists.”

NHS staff have been left shocked at the speed of change. New interim chief executive Sir Jim Mackey will be left in charge of carrying out a “radical reduction and reshaping” of NHS England in order to make “best possible use of taxpayers’ money”.

Matthew Taylor, chief executive of the NHS Confederation, said: “These changes are happening at a scale and pace not anticipated to begin with, but given the huge savings that the NHS needs to make this year it makes sense to reduce areas of duplication at a national level, and for the NHS to be led by a leaner centre.”

Head of health at the Unison union, Helga Pile, said: “Staff will be understandably concerned about this sudden change of direction. The number of redundancies being sought at NHS England has trebled in just a matter of weeks.

“Employees there have already been through the mill with endless rounds of reorganisation. What was already a stressful prospect has now become more like a nightmare. 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.”

Mackey, the interim chief executive, said: “We know that today’s news is unsettling for our staff, and we have significant challenges and changes ahead. We aim to have a transition team in place to start on 1 April, 2025 to help lead us through this period.”

Streeting said the country was “entering a period of critical transformation for our NHS”.

He said that a “sronger relationship between the Department for Health and Social Care and NHS England” would deliver “the speed and urgency needed to meet the scale of the challenge”.