Health Secretary Wes Streeting has warned that the abolition of NHS England is only the start of a war on wasteful regulators and agencies he says are “cluttering” the health system.
The UKHSA was created in 2021 to replace Public Health England after criticism of the latter’s response to the early stages of the pandemic in 2020.
On Sunday Streeting warned there would be “far more change to come” in the government’s war on bureaucracy and red tape after the surprise axing of NHS England last week.
Penny Dash, who will oversee the two-year abolition of NHS England as its chairman, has conducted a review of health service bureaucracy and has “identified hundreds of bodies cluttering the patient safety and regulatory landscape, leaving patients and staff alike lost in a labyrinth of paperwork and frustration”, Streeting wrote.
On Sunday Streeting apologised for the “significant” job losses, telling Sky News’s Sunday Morning with Trevor Phillips that many in the NHS would agree with his criticisms of the “layers of bureaucracy” and “duplication” between his department and NHS England.
“I’m genuinely sorry about that because we don’t want them to be in that position, but I’ve got to make the changes that are necessary.”
He told the BBC’s Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg programme: “I’m going after the bureaucracy, not the people who work in it.
“I’m not criticising them, but I’ve got to make sure the system is well set up.”
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Streeting added: “I’m afraid this speaks to the culture that I identified before the general election where the NHS is addicted to overspending, is addicted to running up routine deficits, with the assumption that someone will come along to bail them out.”
Streeting also admitted that the changes would see disruption and some up-front costs in the short-term. These are expected to include redundancy payments for thousands of departing staff.
“The Government must also take the same sense of urgency shown here to social care, and complete their review by the end of the year rather than continuing to kick the can down the road.”
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