As part of a crackdown on ‘waste and wokery’ in the health sector, health authorities will eliminate up to 8,000 non-frontline NHS staff.
Amanda Pritchard, the chief executive of NHS England, disclosed intentions to eliminate 30 to 40 percent of positions at three health organizations by 2024.
Between 6,000 and 8,000 of the 20,000 roles at NHS Digital and Health Education England (HEE), which is responsible for educating the workforce, will be eliminated.
To avoid duty duplication and save up to £1 billion over five years, the two central organizations are being combined with NHS England.
Ms. Pritchard stated that voluntary redundancies would be offered to employees this fall, with recruiting to the affected positions being restricted “immediately.”
It comes a month after former Health Secretary Sajid Javid pledged to eliminate “waste or wokery” in the NHS.
His announcement follows a controversial 1.25 percent increase in National Insurance premiums to increase funding for health care.
Previous initiatives to reduce NHS bureaucracy and duties have resulted in billions of dollars in payoffs, only to be rehired by the health service.
In 2019, it was revealed that the NHS has given approximately £500 million in redundancy settlements to over 8,000 employees it had later hired.
In a statement to employees today, Ms. Pritchard stated that the changes will result in “a more agile organization that responds nimbly and flexibly to shifting demand, priorities, and opportunities.”
It is not yet apparent which employees will be let go.
Mr. Javid issued a directive earlier this month for the NHS to eliminate its ‘diversity and inclusion managers, arguing that their £115,000 salaries might be better spent on the front line.
The NHS’s menopause and womb cancer advice no longer includes references to ‘women’ and ‘woman’, it was discovered last month.
NHS Digital stated that they desired terminology that is “inclusive and respectful” to justify the move.
In September of last year, a total of fifty NHS England employees made more than £150,000, according to government numbers released earlier this year.
According to a government list of public sector earnings, Ms. Pritchard is one of these individuals and earns between £255k and £260k.
This is £60,000 more than her predecessor’s salary, a revelation that raised eyebrows in February.
According to the data, fifty NHS England employees made more than £150,000 in September of last year.
Sir Gordon Messenger, a former military general who led a major independent study of the NHS last month, said that the health service’s leadership was “institutionally insufficient.
Amid a cost-of-living crisis, monstrously lengthy NHS waiting lists, and overflowing A&E departments, health officials are under pressure to demonstrate that they are maximizing taxpayer dollars.
In England, a record-breaking 6.5 million individuals are waiting for normal care, and this number is anticipated to continue climbing for the next two years as patients return to the NHS following delays caused by the epidemic.
Hundreds of thousands of patients have waited for over a year, and hospitals are straining to meet the government’s goal to eliminate two-year delays by the end of this month.
In ‘inhumane’ conditions, more than 19,000 patients attending casualty units must wait at least 12 hours for a bed, making A&E wait times an enormous problem.
Less than three-quarters of patients are seen within the goal timeframe of four hours after arriving in overcrowded emergency departments.
In May, ambulances took an average of 39 minutes and 58 seconds to respond to category two calls, such as burns, epilepsy, and strokes, which is double the target time of 18 minutes.
Response times for category three calls, including late stages of labor, minor burns, and diabetes, averaged two hours, nine minutes, and thirty-two seconds.
Within two hours, nine out of ten category three calls are expected to be attended by an ambulance.
