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”.
He has taken aim at a “cottage industry of checkers and blockers slowing down delivery for working people” while arguing the state has become bigger but weaker. The Prime Minister said: “I don’t see why decisions about £200billion of taxpayer money, on something as fundamental as the NHS, should be taken by an arms length body. Today has got to be a line in the sand for all of us I can’t explain to the British people why they should spend their money on two layers on bureaucracy.
Keir Starmer announces he will abolish NHS England (Image: Getty)
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“That money could and should be spent on nurses, doctors, operations, GP appointments. I’m bringing management of the NHS back into democratic control.”
“By abolishing the arms length body NHS England, that will put the NHS back at the heart of government where it belongs, freeing it to focus on patients, less bureaucracy, with more money for nurses.”
This followed recent announcements that NHS England chief executive Amanda Pritchard and medical director Sir Stephen Powis will quit.
NHS England was established in 2013 by former Tory health secretary Andrew Lansley to give it greater independence and autonomy.
Abolishing NHS England will reduce “duplication”, saving money that can then be spent on frontline services, the Prime Minister said.
Answering a question from a cancer patient on how the decision would improve NHS services, Sir Keir 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”.