NHS gets go-ahead to make thousands of redundancies

Redundancies of thousands of NHS staff in England will continue after a deal was reached with the Treasury that will allow the health service to overspend this year to meet pay costs.

The government said last year that 18,000 administrative and managerial jobs would be transferred to NHS England, the body that runs the NHS, and brought to the Department of Health and Social Care, alongside cuts to local health boards.

NHS bosses and health ministers have been in talks with the Treasury over how to pay the one-off £1bn bill as the health service wants extra money.

The Treasury blocked this, but the BBC understands a compromise was reached to allow the NHS to overspend this year.

The NHS will be expected to recoup the costs going forward, as the redundancies will lead to savings in future years.

Broadly speaking, government sources said no extra money would go to the NHS beyond what was agreed in this year’s spending review; This means an extra £29bn a year above inflation by 2028-29.

Addressing healthcare executives at the NHS Providers conference in Manchester on Wednesday, Health Secretary Wes Streeting is expected to say: “I want to reassure taxpayers that every penny they are asked to pay will be spent wisely.

“We are now reducing the accelerator and removing unnecessary bureaucracy to reinvest savings into frontline care.

“This won’t happen overnight, but through our investment and modernization we will rebuild our NHS to be there when you need it again.”

The reforms will raise £1bn a year by the end of parliament to improve services for patients, according to the government.

It has been stated that every £1bn saved in bureaucracy costs is enough to fund an extra 116,000 hip and knee surgeries.

Chancellor Rachel Reeves is expected to make new statements on healthcare in the Budget on 26 November.

While NHS England is expected to be brought back into the Department of Health within two years, cuts to the integrated care boards (ICBs) that plan health services for individual areas will cut staff numbers by 50%.

Daniel Elkeles, CEO of NHS Providers, said: “This is a pragmatic step that means planned redundancies can now go ahead.

“This reflects the flexibility of a three-year agreement that allows some funding to be brought forward to deliver future savings on frontline care.

“However, we must be aware of the position of staff who have provided commitment and service to the NHS who are affected by these changes and face a very uncertain future.”

But Patricia Marquis of the Royal College of Nursing warned the redundancies could backfire.

“Front-line services need more investment, but doing so on the back of laying off thousands of professionals is false economy.

“Specialist registered nurses working in the NHS and ICBs in England not only run vital public health programs and oversee programs of care for vulnerable people, they also link the NHS and social care services.

“Implied that these are administrators demonstrates a complete lack of understanding of their role and how they contribute to patient care.”