NHS England to halve workforce amid Streeting's restructuring.
To save money and eliminate 'duplicates,' the health secretary will reduce NHS England's personnel.
NHS England will lose half its workforce and a sizable portion of its senior management team due to a severe restructuring under its new CEO.
Its employment will be reduced from 13,000 to approximately 6,500 as entire teams are eliminated to save money and avoid "duplication" with Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) officials.
Staff at NHS England stated they were "in shock and awe" at the scale of the job losses, which go far beyond the 2,000-job loss announced just weeks ago to save £175 million.
The DHSC will also shrink due to a process that will see it collaborate considerably more closely with NHS England beginning in April, although losing fewer employees than the latter. The changes will give Wes Streeting, the health minister, significantly more influence over the organization in charge of the operational performance of the NHS in England.
"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, representing NHS trusts in England.
Amanda Pritchard, NHS England's outgoing chief executive, emailed workers today that Streeting had initiated the organization's significant reduction.
He has urged Jim Mackey, her successor, and Dr. Penny Dash, NHS England's incoming new chair, to spearhead the "radical reform of the size and functions of the center [how NHS staff refer to NHS England and the DHSC's respective headquarters in London]," Pritchard stated. This shall "deliver significant changes in our relationship with DHSC to eradicate duplication."
Pritchard stated two weeks ago, following weeks of discussions with Streeting, that she would step down at the end of the month.
A "formal change program board" or "transition team" of DHSC and NHS England executives will reduce the two organizations' size. It will report to Dash, and Alan Milburn, the former Labour health secretary Streeting was appointed as the DHSC's chief non-executive director and the board's co-chairs.
"As part of this, they will be looking at ways of radically reducing the size of NHS England that could see the center decrease by around half," Pritchard told the BBC. She noted that the news would be "very unsettling" and cause "uncertainty and worry" among colleagues.
Pritchard also revealed that Julian Kelly, NHS England's deputy chief executive and finance chief, Emily Lawson, chief operational officer, and Steve Russell, chief delivery officer, will leave this month.
The employees "feel it is the right time to move on and allow a new transition team, led by Jim, to reshape how NHS England and DHSC work together," according to her. Prof. Sir Stephen Powis, the service's national medical director, also announced his departure last Thursday.
One NHS England employee stated, "People here have been expecting a change in the last few weeks, but not as much change as is currently evident. They are perplexed, alarmed, and terrified.
"The speed at which Emily Lawson, Julian Kelly, and Steve Russell are going is bewildering."
Streeting has made no secret of his desire to obtain more influence over NHS England, which has been semi-independent of ministerial authority since then-health secretary Andrew Lansley's shake-up of the service in 2012, as part of the most significant overhaul of the NHS since its inception.
The Guardian reported last month that thousands of positions would be cut at NHS England, and this week that Mackey was contemplating a dramatic shakeup of NHS England's senior leadership team. More departures are predicted.
Last week, Mackey and Pritchard told NHS executives that the organization might overspend £6.6 billion in the fiscal year 2025/26 and that "a fundamental reset of the financial regime" would help "get a grip of this situation."