British Prime Minister Keir Starmer has announced he would abolish the National Health Scheme (NHS) England, the body responsible for the management of the National Health Scheme (NHS) in a bid to bring the body back under ‘democratic’ control.
About NHS England
NHS England was created as part of the 2012 reforms introduced under former Conservative health secretary Andrew Lansley to free the health service from day-to-day political meddling – with ministers instead setting the wider strategy, but stepping back from getting involved on a daily basis.
In the years after then, NHS England has exercised that independence, most notably under the lead of Sir Simon Stevens, who challenged and pressured Theresa May’s government into increasing funding.
The staff strength of NHS England has grown to around 13,500 staff, a number three times bigger than that of the department of health partly because two organisations have been merged with it in recent years – Health Education England, responsible for training, and NHS Digital.
Abolishment Announcement
Keir Starmer made the announcement during a speech announcing public sector reform plans.
“I’m bringing management of the NHS back into democratic control, by abolishing the arms-length body NHS England,” he said.
“This will put the NHS back at the heart of government where it belongs,” he added. Keir Starmer in his speech also listed “duplication” is among the reasons they are abolishing NHS England in order to free up money for the frontline.
This announcement is coming after former NHS England boss, Amanda Pritchard resigned from NHS England and the government stated that the work of the body and the work of the Department of Health would be brought much closer together.
